EU Ambassador to Ukraine Katarína Mathernová announced this on social media platform X.
„Congratulations to the new EU Defence Commissioner Andrius Kubilius who is hiding in the shelter“, wrote Mathernová, adding that on the morning of 13 December, Russia targeted key infrastructure in Ukraine.
„Energy and transport networks were targeted with 93 ballistic and cruise missiles and more than 200 combat drones,“ she added.
Not for the first time
Commissioner Kubilius told the news portal Lrytas that he had to hide in the basement of a hotel.
„This is one of the biggest Russian missile attacks, and we have just arrived in Kyiv. That's the extent of the news. We were hiding in a shelter in the morning, which is quite common here,“ he said.
According to Kubilius, a message was received that everyone had to take cover, so everyone went into hiding. However, the Commissioner said that this is not the first time he has had to hide from a Russian missile attack.
„I was here quite often before when I was not yet a Commissioner, so I had to be in a shelter. And in Odessa, I have been in the epicentre of a missile attack, which happened last year. My colleague Juozas Olekas and I were there at that time.
When you are here and see other people's reactions, they are pretty calm. And the warnings are clear enough, and unique apps tell you where the missiles are going.
It is not something that you have to be very afraid of. Of course, the disasters that these missiles bring to Ukraine, to Ukraine's infrastructure, are significant, but the fact of the attacks is not news“, he stressed.
This is Kubilius' first visit to Ukraine as a Commissioner.
So, after meeting with Ukrainian politicians, Kubilius said that he was asking how Europe can help Ukraine withstand the attacks and become even stronger so that peace can be pursued on Ukraine's terms and not on Putin's.
After the Russian missile attack, Mr Kubilius met Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiha.
„I welcomed Andrius Kubilius on his first visit to Kyiv as EU Commissioner for Defence and Space. After a morning spent in hiding due to a large-scale Russian airstrike, we got down to business and discussed steps to boost the EU defence industrial base and investment in Ukraine's defence industry,“ Sybiha wrote on the X network.
Earlier on Friday, a US delegation also arrived in the Ukrainian capital amid intense Russian missile strikes.
An air raid alert was issued across Ukraine. President Volodymyr Zelensky announced that 11 cruise missiles had been successfully shot down by Ukrainian forces and intercepted by F-16 fighters.
