© AP / Emilio MorenattiEmergency services are working in the area following an explosion in Kiev, Ukraine, April 28, 2022
At least five cruise missiles struck Kiev on Thursday evening, President Volodymyr Zelensky has claimed, accusing Moscow of carrying out the strike to deliberately "humiliate" the United Nations as Secretary-General Antonio Guterres visited the Ukrainian capital.
"This says a lot about Russia's true attitude to global institutions, about the efforts of the Russian leadership to humiliate the UN, and everything that the organization represents," Zelensky said in his Thursday night address.
Comment: The same Russia that has, up to now, done pretty much done everything legally, whom the UN actually blocked from officially presenting evidence of war crimes by Ukraine?
Ukrainian emergency services initially announced that an unspecified "facility" was hit in the Shevchenko district of the city, while a nearby residential building suffered damage to its lower floors. There were no reports of casualties, but Ukrainian authorities later said at least 10 people were injured inside the damaged 25-story high-rise, while media shared photos of firefighters working at the scene.
According to some reports, the unnamed facility may have been the Artem missile development and production plant, with the Guardian claiming the factory had been evacuated and stood empty since February.
Officials in Moscow have yet to comment on the matter, as the alleged strike took place around 8pm, after the evening press briefing by Russian military spokesman Major General Igor Konashenkov. If confirmed, it wouldn't be the first time Russia has launched strikes against military facilities in and around Kiev, including at an armored-vehicle manufacturing factory two weeks ago.
Earlier on Thursday, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres met with Zelensky and toured Kiev and its suburbs, with Ukrainian officials showing him the sites of alleged "war crimes" committed by Russia. Upon hearing reports of a new "attack on Kiev," the UN chief said it "shocked me, not because I'm here, but because Kiev is a sacred city for Ukrainians and Russians alike," according to Reuters.
Comment: Spare us the amateur dramatics (because with von der Leyen's recent hammy performance, there's stiff competition); the West has been funding and arming neo-Nazis who have been waging a terror campaign in Ukraine for nearly a decade now, but suddenly the West is concerned about Kiev's sanctity?
On Tuesday, Guterres visited Moscow for talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin on the Ukrainian crisis. They discussed the situation on the ground, with Putin explaining to the UN chief Moscow's reasons for launching its military operation in Ukraine.
Russia attacked Ukraine in late February, following Kiev's failure to implement the terms of the Minsk agreements, first signed in 2014, and Moscow's eventual recognition of the Donbass republics of Donetsk and Lugansk. The German and French brokered Minsk Protocol was designed to give the breakaway regions special status within the Ukrainian state.
The Kremlin has since demanded that Ukraine officially declare itself a neutral country that will never join NATO. Kiev insists the Russian offensive was completely unprovoked and has denied claims it was planning to retake the two republics by force.
Comment: If Russia is responsible, they're likely to admit it, and, as the last two months of the incursion have demonstrated, it will probably be because, as Moscow recently announced, any shipments of weapons into Ukraine, as well as facilities harbouring the neo-Nazis, are considered legitimate targets for neutralisation.
It's notable that it occurs during a UN visit to Russia and Ukraine, because the West prefers to stage its false flags amidst high profile events - this chemical weapons attack in Syria as just one example - but it could also be that Russia is simply seizing the opportunities as they present themselves.
Also check out SOTT radio's: NewsReal: UK Govt Now Says Russia Might Win in Ukraine After All