Two people were killed on Thursday and five others injured in an explosion probably linked to gas that partially destroyed a 15-storey apartment building in Kyiv, the prosecutor’s office announced.
The explosion, which completely destroyed several apartments on different levels of the building in a residential area of eastern Kyiv, occurred in the middle of the night “probably due to a gas leak”, the prosecutor’s office said in a statement on Telegram.
Rescue workers are currently checking how many people may be under the debris, it added, adding that an investigation for “violation of safety rules” had been opened.
Twenty people were rescued, said the state emergency service, which published images of the gutted building, its walls blackened by smoke.