Russia unleashed a fresh volley of missiles on Ukraine overnight, causing huge blazes in a city in the east, damaging dozens of homes and wounding at least 34 people.
The attack on Pavlohrad, a city and railway hub, came during the second wave of nationwide missile strikes in three days, with Moscow apparently reviving its winter tactic of long-range strikes ahead of a planned Ukrainian counteroffensive.
A huge crater had been blasted in the backyard of a house that was strewn with debris on Pavlohrad's outskirts.
Homes nearby were badly damaged. In the city centre, the windows of a dormitory that serves a chemical plant had been blown out.
"I ran outside and saw the garage was destroyed. Everything was on fire, glass shards were everywhere. Had we been outside, we would have been killed," said resident Olha Lytvynenko, 61.
Viktoriia Suprun, 41, said she had taken cover with her daughter in the hallway of the dormitory.
"We rushed to the hallway, laid on the floor. And then the explosion wave twisted the door. Had we stayed for five more seconds, we would have been trapped here," she said.
"We didn't sleep at night and in the morning. My child will need psychological help, it is horrible."
Mykola Lukashuk, head of the Dnipropetrovsk region council, said the attack had damaged 19 apartment blocks, 25 houses, three schools, three kindergartens and several shops.
The 34 wounded included five children, the region's governor said.
The city is located in south-eastern Ukraine, behind the main eastern and southern front lines in the war.
Russia's defence ministry said its forces had struck using high-precision long-range air and sea-based missiles against "Ukraine's military-industrial facilities".
"The objectives of the strike were achieved," it said in a statement.
"The work of enterprises making ammunition, weapons and military equipment for Ukrainian troops has been disrupted."
Turning point
Damage appeared to be limited elsewhere in Ukraine, after air raid sirens sounded for hours through the night.
Ukraine said it shot down 15 of 18 incoming cruise missiles.
Officials in the capital Kyiv said there were no reports of civilian casualties or damage there.
The energy ministry said attacks had significantly damaged electricity distribution points in the southern Kherson region and central-eastern Dnipropetrovsk region, leaving thousands of people without power. Repairs to the grid were set to take several days, it said in a statement.
Ukraine's air defence systems have been bolstered in recent months by delivery of Western equipment, including the American Patriot systems received in April.
Russia says some recent strikes are designed to hamper Kyiv's plans for a long-planned counteroffensive in the east.
Ukraine said on Sunday that its troops were holding onto parts of the eastern city of Bakhmut, the focus of a prolonged Russian assault.
While the head of a major pro-Moscow force said his men were making progress.
US says 20,000 Russians dead
The White House said on Monday it now estimates that just since December, Russia has lost 100,000 troops from action, including 20,000 killed.
White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said the US estimate is based on newly declassified American intelligence. He did not detail how the intelligence community derived the number.
Troops from Russia's Wagner mercenary group and other forces are fighting Ukrainian troops house-to-house to try to gain control of what has become known as the "road of life" — the last remaining road west still in Ukrainian hands, which makes it critical for supplies and fresh troops.
Both sides have cited gains in recent days.
Mr Kirby said nearly half those killed since December were Wagner forces, many of them convicts who were released from prison to join Russia's fight.
He said the Wagner forces were "thrown into combat and without sufficient combat or combat training, combat leadership, or any sense of organisational command and control".
Colonel General Oleksandr Syrskyi, the head of Ukrainian ground forces, said that Russia continued to exert "maximum effort" to take the city but that it so far had failed.
"In some parts of the city, the enemy was counterattacked by our units and left some positions," he said.
Reuters
