[Tee tiong huat]

We will clean, restore, then beat them’ – Kyiv’s Muslims defiant after Russian attack damages mosque. The collapsed ceiling in the male prayer hall of the Islamic Cultural Center, damaged by a Russian missile attack, in Kyiv, Ukraine on Sep. 2, 2024. They are barbarians," 80-year-old Mustafa Dzhemilev tells the Kyiv Independent on Sept. 2, as he assesses the damage caused to the Islamic Cultural Center in Kyiv by a Russian missile attack in the early hours of the morning.

"If they targeted a children's hospital, why wouldn’t they destroy a cultural center?" he adds, referencing the attack on Okhmatdyt, Ukraine’s largest children’s hospital, on July 8. The Islamic Cultural Center is a prominent hub for Ukrainian Muslims and is considered a main religious location for Crimean Tatar Muslims in the country outside of Russian-occupied Crimea. Early in the morning on Sept. 2, explosions sounded in waves across Kyiv as air defenses intercepted incoming Russian missiles. Ukraine's Air Force said it detected 35 missiles of various types and 23 attack drones launched across the country. Nine Iskander ballistic missiles, 13 Kh-101 cruise missiles, and 20 drones were downed, the Air Force said.

Three people were injured in the attack, authorities reported, with falling debris damaging other buildings across the capital. The damage to the Islamic Cultural Center was caused by a shock wave when a missile landed in the yard of a building behind it, creating a crater over 20 feet wide and partly collapsing the structure, shattering windows, and bringing down pieces of ceiling in the prayer halls.
https://kyivindependent.com/we-will-clea...es-mosque/