KYIV, Ukraine, April 16, 2022 (BSS/AFP) - A military hardware factory in the 
Ukrainian capital Kyiv was hit by strikes early Saturday, an AFP journalist 
said, a day after Russian forces bombed a missile unit outside the city. 

Smoke rose from the area and there was a heavy police and military presence 
after Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko announced on social media there had been 
explosions in the capital's Darnyrsky district.

Russia's defence ministry said Moscow's forces had used "high-precision long-
range" weapons to hit facilities at an armaments plant in Kyiv.

The strike on the Ukrainian capital is among the first since invading Russian 
forces began withdrawing from regions around Kyiv last month, instead turning 
their focus on gaining control of the eastern Donbas region.

Russian strikes on Friday however hit the Vizar plant, near the capital's 
international airport, seriously damaging the facility that produces missiles 
in the overnight strikes.

Russia said it had used sea-based long-range missiles to hit the factory, 
which Ukraine's state weapons manufacturer says produced Neptune cruise 
missiles.

Klitschko said authorities were still determining whether anyone had been 
killed or injured in the attack.

Residential areas of Kyiv were struck repeatedly at the beginning of Russia's 
invasion of Ukraine from late February. Moscow has denied intentionally 
striking civilian infrastructure.