Huge explosions rock Kyiv as air strikes hit the city just hours after the blast at the train station where thousands took shelter

BIG explosions rocked Kyiv as the city came under attack from Russian air strikes.

Fireballs pierced the night sky above the Ukrainian capital and the bombardment came just hours after an explosion at a train station where thousands of people were sheltering.

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The air raid sirens were heard in the city as people were told to go to the air raid shelters.

Earlier, a large explosion rocked central Kyiv, which the president’s office said was a missile attack near the southern railway station of the capital city.

Two missiles are said to have been launched towards the Ukrainian Defense Ministry headquarters and one was shot down.

The building and the station are located on either side of the connecting street in the city.

Thousands of Ukrainians have fled the city through its train stations, taking shelter there as they wait to get out.

There was no immediate information about any deaths or injuries.

It comes as Russian forces are accused of indiscriminately shelling the Ukrainian port of Mariupol, home to nearly 450,000 people, over the past day, with unconfirmed reports that hundreds have been killed. .

Mayor Mariupol accused Russian about carrying out “genocide” on his city, while his deputy claimed the entire residential area of ​​130,000 people had been razed to the ground.

Footage allegedly shot in the city appears to show gun battles between Ukrainian and Russian forces on Wednesday.

The city is located in an important position, between the annexed Crimean Peninsula, where several Russian forces are stationed, and the pro-Russian breakaway provinces of Luhansk and Donetsk.

Mariupol is believed to have been under continuous fire for the past 14 hours, according to the city government.

A maternity hospital and dozens of residential buildings were severely damaged, while a school and migrant residences were destroyed.

Three boys playing soccer were hit by bullets during a Russian attack in the city.

One person lost a leg and died shortly after arriving, an AP reporter said.

The other two were taken to hospital and remain in intensive care.

All three boys are about 15 to 16 years old.

Unconfirmed reports say hundreds of people were killed during hours of continuous shelling.

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The basement of the maternity hospital in Mariupol was turned into a bomb shelter and a nursery as Russian forces stepped up their attack.

Vadym Boychenko, mayor of Mariupol, told Ukraine1+1 TV channel reported that the Russian military had also prevented civilians from escaping the port city.

“Residential infrastructure was destroyed enormously, a lot of people were injured and unfortunately many people died, women, children, the elderly,” he said.

“A total genocide of the Ukrainian people is underway.”

“You have to understand that the occupation forces of the Russian Federation did everything to prevent the escape of civilians from our city of half a million people,” he continued.

“Our rail link was cut – they even went to the train station and shot at our diesel locomotives so people couldn’t evacuate.

“So their mission is to destroy us, they have no intention of helping civilians.”

Earlier, on Wednesday, Boychenko said the number of wounded civilians “is increasing every day”.

“Today there are 128 people in our hospital. Our doctors are not even going home. They are fighting for the lives of the residents of Mariupol,” he said.

Water supplies are also at stake in the city after more than half a day of Russian bombardment.

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City deputy mayor Sergiy Orlov said a riverside district, home to about 130,000 people – including his father – had been wiped out.

He said Russian forces were besieging the city on all sides and several kilometers away.

“The situation is dire, we are on the brink of a humanitarian catastrophe,” he said.

“We were bombed non-stop for more than 15 hours. A quarter of the city was almost completely destroyed. We couldn’t go inside to pick up the bodies so we couldn’t count.”

He told the BBC: “The Ukrainian army is very brave and they will continue to defend the city, but the style of the Russian army is like that of pirates.

“They don’t fight their armies, they just destroy entire districts.”

A total genocide of the Ukrainian people is underway

Vadym BoychenkoMayor of Mariupol

A message from a Ukrainian soldier recorded in the city read: “If anything happens, don’t let us be forgotten. We are surrounded in Mariupol, with no way out.”

A British soldier currently fighting in the Ukrainian Marines said he and his comrades were “besieged in Mariupol” as he urged people to “continue to support” Ukraine.

It comes the day after a A six-year-old girl was killed in a Russian air strike in Mariupol.

Terrifying images show the poor child in unicorn pajamas lying injured in a city hospital.

An angry doctor told reporters: “Show this to Putin”, after the girl died despite the heroic efforts of the medical team.

The terrified mother of the child, covered in blood and holding a pink scarf, was crying as she waited outside the ambulance as the medical team desperately tried to revive her.

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Another child, Polina, 10 years old, was was shot dead by the Russian army after they opened fire on her family’s car in Kyiv.

Equal Vladimir PutinHopes of a quick takeover of Ukraine have evaporated, and concerns are growing that Russia is increasingly using indiscriminate attacks on civilian targets to end the war.

On Tuesday, Russia gave off a shiver warn Ukrainians to flee from parts of Kyiv before another major bombardment.

So far, more than 2,000 Ukrainian civilians were killed in the war, and about 6,000 Russian troops.

Russia claims it has gained control of the port city of Kherson in southwestern Ukraine, although the city’s mayor denies this and says Ukrainian forces are holding.

Other rocket attacks hit the second Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, hitting the regional police station and part of the university.

More than 800,000 people have left Ukraine so far, according to the United Nations, amid fears of the largest displacement of people since World War Two.

On Wednesday, Russian paratroopers landed in the city and began fighting for control, according to the Ukrainian military.

The second round of peace talks between Russia and Ukraine will take place this evening, according to Russian state news agencies.

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