1 dead in ‘brutal’ Russian missile attack on Kyiv, US ambassador says

(LONDON) — A Russian missile strike killed one person and wounded nine others early on Friday morning, Ukrainian officials said, an attack that U.S. Ambassador Bridget A. Brink described as “brutal.”

“Early this morning Russia launched a ballistic missile attack against the capital, killing a civilian and resulting in debris and fires around the city,” Brink said in a statement on social media.

Brink added that the United States and its partners were “surging security assistance and energy support” to the country “in response to these brutal attacks.”

First responders were battling fires in the streets, and several high-rise buildings were damaged. Debris had fallen in at least four districts in the city, Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said on the Telegram messaging app.

More than 600 buildings, including more than a dozen medical sites, were without heat after the strike damaged a heating main in the city’s southwestern Holosiivskyi District, he said. Seventeen schools and 13 kindergartens also were without heat early Friday.

Russia last month launched several aerial assaults that targeted energy infrastructure throughout Ukraine.

“Ukraine needs more air defense systems,” Ukraine’s Defense Ministry said on Friday. “Russian terror must be stopped.”

Nine people were injured, including four who were hospitalized, in the strike on Kyiv, the mayor said, revising the number of injured from the previous seven.

ABC News’ Helena Skinner contributed to this report.

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