Ukraine officials tell of artillery battles outside Kyiv overnight Wednesday

This was stated by Vadym Denysenko, an adviser to the Minister of Internal Affairs, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

"This night, there were artillery battles as all night the Ukrainian Army conducted offensive operations. Throughout the night, those living in Kyiv, in its western part, especially in nearby towns, could not help but hear this. As of now, from what I can say, in general, everything is going well. That’s in general. I will be speaking very carefully – we have destroyed a lot of military equipment, plenty of manpower. More accurate data will be released a bit later by the General Staff, but as of now, I’d say that the operation is generally going well,” Denysenko said.

The officials also said that at about 6 am on Wednesday, Russian invaders opened fire on the city of Kyiv, again.

"The air defense system worked – at least one missile was shot down," said the adviser to the Interior Minister.

According to Denysenko, as a result of the shelling, the upper floors of two apartment blocks collapsed. Firefighters and rescuers are working at the scene.

"We will report on casualties a little later," Denysenko said.

As Ukrinform reported earlier, on the morning of Wednesday, March 16, a 12-storey apartment block g in Kyiv’s Shevchenkivskyi district partly collapsed as a result of enemy shelling. According to preliminary reports, two people were injured in the attack. The neighboring nine-storey building was also partially damaged.