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Missiles hit Kyiv during UN chief's visit
Summary
Strikes on the Ukrainian capital coincided with a visit by the UN Secretary-General, as Russia and Britain traded warnings.
What did the Russian missile strikes on Kyiv on 28 April 2022 say about the course of the war? They came while UN Secretary-General António Guterres was visiting the city. Two major explosions hit the capital, and at least ten civilians were injured. A Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty journalist was killed.
Rhetoric between Moscow and London
The strikes followed a day of sharpening exchanges between Russia and the United Kingdom. On 27 April, Russian foreign ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said Russia could strike military targets on the territory of NATO countries that supply arms to Ukraine, adding that Britain was, as she understood it, one of them. British Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab responded that such threats were unlawful and only added to the pariah status of Vladimir Putin's regime.
The day before, on 26 April, the Russian Defence Ministry had accused the UK of provoking Ukraine into attacking Russian territory and warned of a proportional response. That followed a statement by Armed Forces Secretary James Heappey that Ukraine could use British weapons against targets inside Russia, which he called completely legitimate.
On 27 April, Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said Russian forces must be pushed out of the whole of Ukraine, including territory captured eight years earlier. The BBC described this as the clearest statement yet of Britain's war aims. Also on 27 April, Russia imposed sanctions on 287 members of the UK House of Commons, including senior cabinet ministers and Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle, in response to sanctions on members of its State Duma.
Fighting and fallout
On 27 April, Russia said it had struck 59 Ukrainian weapon facilities overnight, including a depot in Zaporizhzhia Oblast storing weapons from the United States and Europe. Russia also said its air defences had shot down a Ukrainian drone over Kursk Oblast, while explosions and a fire at an ammunition depot were reported in Belgorod Oblast. Ukraine described the explosions in Russia as payback and karma for the invasion.
In the occupied south, the Ukrainian Air Force hit the Kherson TV Tower with a missile on 27 April, temporarily knocking Russian television off air in occupied Kherson Oblast.
Russia also announced on 27 April that it was withdrawing from the World Tourism Organization ahead of a vote on its suspension. Separately, Gazprombank vice-president Igor Volobuev left his post and Russia, citing disagreement with the war, and said he planned to join Kyiv's territorial defence.
