Videos Show Large Explosions Lighting Up Kyiv Sky

Smoke and flames rise over during the shelling near Kyiv, as Russia continues its invasion of Ukraine, on Feb. 26, 2022. Gleb Garanich/Reuters

Several large explosions shook Kyiv early in the morning on March 3, according to videos posted on social media.

Two of the explosions were captured at the tail end of a live stand-up report by CBS correspondent Charlie D'Agata.

“Two of the largest explosions I’ve ever experienced just went off in Kyiv,” D'Agata wrote on Twitter.

Other videos show a giant explosion light up the sky followed by the sounds of a blast.

The nighttime explosions occurred as a convoy of Russian military vehicles bore down toward Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine.

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said in a video message that the explosions were the result of Ukrainian air defenses intercepting Russian missiles.

“There was no damage or casualties, thank God,” Klitschko said.

Kyiv appears to be the target of one of several axes of a Russian invasion that began on Thursday last week.

The U.N. Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine said as of March 1, it has recorded 752 civilian casualties in Ukraine since the beginning of the conflict, including 15 children. Russia maintains that its forces are not targeting civilian areas. Fighting has been ongoing in eastern Ukraine since 2014. The mission reported 110 civilian casualties during 2021.

Over the course of the first six days of the invasion, Russia has faced a wave of sanctions. A group of Western nations ordered some Russian banks to be cut from the SWIFT financial messaging system. The European Union, Canada, and the United States closed their airspace to Russian aircraft. Breaking from its usual neutral stance, Switzerland joined in the EU sanctions.

A U.S. Department of Defense spokesman said on March 2 that the miles-long Russian military convoy heading to Kyiv, the Ukrainian capital, was stalled.

“They haven’t, from our best estimates, made any appreciable progress in the last 24-36 hours,” Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said on Wednesday of the Russian forces moving towards the capital. “Nothing very significant.”

Satellite imagery from Maxar showed what appears to be a 40-mile-long convoy of Russian tanks, artillery, and military equipment outside of Kyiv.

Kirby told reporters that the stall is likely due to Russian forces deliberately “regrouping themselves and reassessing the progress that they have not made and how to make up the lost time,” adding that there appear to be “logistics and sustainment challenges” amid resistance from the Ukrainians.

Kirby noted that in southern Ukraine, Russian forces are facing less resistance and are seeing greater success.

But the Pentagon’s “assessment is, as they get closer to these two population centers down in the south, we believe they are facing more resistance,” Kirby said.

Jack Phillips and Reuters contributed to this report.