Rockets fail to break the spirit of Kyiv

SPORT LIFE gym in the Vynohradar district of north-western Kyiv is an electronic phantom. On its website sleek patrons continue to dive into its swimming pool, pump iron or cycle for all they are worth on rows of exercise bikes. But at 10.46pm on March 20th a Russian missile pulverised the place, sending shock waves across the Ukrainian capital. Debris from the gym, the adjacent Retroville shopping centre and an office building were hurled for hundreds of metres. At least eight people were reported dead.Thanks to an impressive defensive operation by Ukraine’s army, Russian forces near the capital have not advanced for two weeks. There are even some areas where Ukrainian troops are reported to have succeeded in pushing the invaders back, though some of those reports have turned out not to be true. Yet every day for more than a week now, a handful of missiles have struck, ratcheting up the pressure on the city.