“In a combat air defense shot down all five ballistic missiles that Russian criminals had directed at Kyiv. Unfortunately, fragments of the downed missiles caused damage and destruction in five districts of the capital. There are dead and wounded,” the air force said.

Officials say a Russian ballistic missile attack on Ukraine’s capital Kyiv has killed at least one person and injured nine others.

The Russian leader had mockingly challenged Ukraine’s Western allies to a missile “duel,” testing their air defenses, during his annual end-of-year news conference.