Ukraine says missile strikes on Kyiv have resumed as Russian invasion enters 2nd day

Ukraine said the military had shot down a Russian aircraft over the capital city, which the Ukrainian president said earlier had been encroached on by "subversive groups."

Ukraine officials say Russian missile strikes have resumed on Kyiv Friday, as the military said it shot down a Russian aircraft over the capital in the second day of a full-scale invasion on the democratic country.

Loud blasts were heard in the early morning hours by people in Kyiv, according to officials and witness reports, as Ukrainian forces battled Russian invaders advancing toward the city.

U.S. and Ukrainian officials say Russia aims to capture Kyiv and topple the government, which Putin regards as a puppet of the United States. Russian troops seized the Chernobyl former nuclear power plant north of Kyiv as they advanced along the shortest route to Kyiv from Belarus to the north.

Anton Herashchenko, an adviser to the interior minister, told reporters Friday that missile strikes on the city had resumed, but did not provide further details.

Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said the last time Kyiv had experienced such “horrific” missile strikes was in 1941 during the Second World War, when it was attacked by Nazi Germany.

“Ukraine defeated that evil and will defeat this one,” he said on Twitter.

Herashchenko later confirmed a Russian aircraft had been shot down, causing the aircraft to crash into a residential building in Kyiv and set it on fire.