Russian strike on Kyiv kills 21-year-old woman; U.S. gave Ukraine no advance warning, journalist says
A Russian ballistic missile attack on Kyiv overnight on October 19 killed a 21-year-old woman, injured others and damaged buildings. A journalist reported that Ukraine again got no warning, while U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio pointed to a software problem in the early warning system.
Russian forces attacked Ukraine's capital, Kyiv, with ballistic missiles overnight on October 19. A 21-year-old woman was killed and buildings were damaged in several districts of the city. The attack has raised the question of why Ukraine is not warned in time about such strikes. A journalist says no warning was given, while a U.S. official pointed to a technical problem.
Damage in the city
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said buildings were damaged in the Desnianskyi and Dniprovskyi districts. By his account, three people were injured and one woman was killed. In the Solomianskyi district, debris hit the first floor of a 25-story residential building, injuring five people. Klitschko also said that one of the metro stations on the left bank of the Dnipro River was damaged, but he gave no further details.
Ukraine's State Emergency Service gave somewhat different figures: it reported that the strike killed one person and injured eight.
Question of warning
Alex Raufoglu, a journalist with the Ukrainian service of RFE/RL (Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty), said Ukraine once again received no warning of the ballistic missile strike on Kyiv. He put a question about it to U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
Rubio replied that he did not know exactly what had happened the previous night. He said he was aware that a few nights earlier there had been a software problem involving Ukraine's early warning system. According to him, EUCOM, the U.S. European Command, had been involved in looking into it. Rubio declined to comment further.
