Kyiv: Ukrainian officials said Russia fired more than 100 missiles into Ukraine on Thursday morning, targeting the capital Kyiv, where three people were injured, the northeastern city of Kharkiv and a massive aerial bombardment of other cities. Ukraine’s air force said the attacks included sea- and air-launched cruise missiles fired “from different directions” and were followed by overnight attacks by ‘kamikaze’ drones. Presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolić put the number of missiles fired at more than 120. Air raid sirens rang out across Ukraine.
The latest attack came shortly after the Kremlin rejected a Ukrainian peace plan, insisting that Kyiv must accept Russia’s annexation of four Ukrainian regions.
“Two private houses in the Dernitsky district were damaged by shrapnel from dropped missiles,” the Kyiv city military administration said on a telegram.
It said a business and playground were also damaged and the condition of the victims was being ascertained. Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said 16 missiles were fired over the capital.
Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov said authorities were clarifying what had been hit and whether there were any casualties after a series of explosions from Russian missiles.
The mayor of Lviv, Andrey Sadovi, said on Telegram that 90% of his city in western Ukraine was without electricity and that electric public transport was not operating.
According to Reuters correspondents and local media reports, explosions were also heard in Zhytomyr and Odessa.
Air defense units shot down 21 missiles in southwest Ukraine’s Odessa region, its governor, Maxim Marchenko, said. He said fragments of a missile hit a residential building, although there were no reports of casualties.
To minimize possible damage to the energy infrastructure, a power cut was announced in the Odessa and Dnipropetrovsk regions.
Moscow has repeatedly denied targeting civilians, but Ukraine says its daily bombardment is destroying cities, towns and the country’s power, medical and other infrastructure.