Russian drone hits Kyiv high-rise building, triggers fires, prompts evacuation

(Reuters) -A Russian drone struck a multi-storey residential building in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv on Friday evening, triggering a fire in the building’s top floors and an evacuation of its residents was under way, officials said.

“There is a fire in the building in Solomyanskyi district that was struck by an enemy drone,” Mayor Vitali Klitschko said on the Telegram messaging app. “The 17th, 18th and 19th floors are damaged. Emergency crews are at the scene.”

Serhiy Popko, head of the capital’s military administration, said residents were being evacuated from the building in the district just west of the city centre. Information on casualties was being clarified, he wrote on Telegram.

A picture posted on social media showed a high-rise building shrouded in smoke with fires burning on one of the top floors.

Popko also said drone fragments had fallen in an open space in the central Shevchenkivskyi district. No casualties were reported.