Missile strikes inside Ukraine’s capital point to a new phase in the war

struck the 16-storey apartment block in the Sviatoshynskyi district in the early hours of the morning on March 15th. For hours, the telescopic ladders of fire engines worked to rescue people trapped by thick smoke and leaping flames. One victim, already zipped into a black body-bag, lay on the ground under her burning home. Paramedics bundled an injured woman, her jaw hanging open in shock, into an ambulance. “The (granny) has only a one percent chance of surviving,” said a medic, clambering out of the ambulance after administering frantic treatments for ten minutes. Since the Russian invasion began on February 24th rockets, missiles, bombs and artillery have almost entirely spared Ukraine’s capital, hitting only suburban areas, and airfields, outside the city limits. But a series of strikes on civilian targets beginning on March 14th, perhaps including explosions from missiles shot down by Kyiv’s air defence system, indicate that this period of grace may be over.