Ukraine’s Parliament Cancels Session Amid New Attack Threat

(Bloomberg) -- Ukraine’s parliament canceled Friday’s plenary session due to the threat of a possible air attack on Kyiv’s government district, according to lawmakers.

Most Read from Bloomberg

• NYC's Underground Steam System May Be Key to a Greener Future

• NYC Gets Historic Push for 80,000 Homes With $5 Billion Pledge

• Trump Promises Could Have Seismic Impact on Washington Economy

• In Kansas City, a First-Ever Stadium Designed for Women’s Sports Takes the Field

• NYC Mayor Adams Names Jessica Tisch to Lead Police Head Amid Probes

The country is on high alert after Russia launched a “new” kind of ballistic missile at the city of Dnipro on Thursday, the latest escalation of hostilities in the long-running war. In the run-up to that attack, several embassies in the Ukrainian capital issued alerts and temporarily closed due to extraordinary risks.

While the Ukrainian capital comes under near-daily attack by Russian forces, this is the first such move by the legislature in recent months. Lawmaker Yaroslav Zheleznyak told Bloomberg News that the session was postponed to next week.

The government is working as usual and employees will head to a shelter in the event of an air alert, Serhiy Nykyforov, a spokesman for President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said, despite an earlier report from Ukraine’s public broadcaster Suspilne that some official institutions had reduced the number of staff on premise.

The move was not without criticism. In a video posted to social media, opposition lawmaker Oleksiy Honcharenko said that lawmakers still gathered in 2022 even as Russian troops stood 20 kilometers (12.4 miles) outside Kyiv. Canceling the current session “plays in favor of Vladimir Putin’s psychological attack,” he said.

Ukraine faced another drone attack Friday morning on multiple cities. Strikes on the north-eastern town of Sumy killed two and injured 12 civilians, according to local authorities.

--With assistance from Daryna Krasnolutska and Greg Sullivan.

(Updates with comment from president’s spokesman on other institutions in the fourth paragraph.)

Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek

• What Happens When US Hospitals Go Big on Nurse Practitioners

• Clear’s Dominance in Airports Could Be Coming to an End

• An Airline’s Florida Resort Dreams Look More Like a Nightmare

• Why the Flying Experience Feels So Much Worse

• Jaylen Brown Is Taking On Nike With $200 Sneakers

©2024 Bloomberg L.P.