Russian air strikes hit several major Ukrainian cities early on Tuesday, killing at least 18 people and wounding more than 100, authorities said. Kyiv, Dnipro and Kharkiv were among the hardest hit, with residential buildings damaged and thousands of residents sheltering underground amid ongoing air raid alerts.
Russian air attacks on major Ukrainian cities including Kyiv, Dnipro and Kharkiv killed at least 18 people and wounded more than 100 early on Tuesday, authorities said, after days of warnings that Moscow was planning a major assault.
Russia has targeted Ukraine's power supply and infrastructure while Ukraine has stepped up attacks this year on Russian oil facilities in a war that has now dragged on for more than four years, sometimes causing casualties. Both Kyiv and Moscow deny targeting civilians.
Twelve people were killed and 36 injured in a Russian missile and drone attack on the southeastern city of Dnipro, regional governor Oleksandr Hanzha said on messaging app Telegram.
All those injured were hospitalised and were reported to be in a moderate condition, he said, posting pictures of heavily damaged residential buildings, burnt-out vehicles and a destroyed children's playground.
One of the dead was a rescue worker who had been killed in a "double-tap" strike targeting first responders, according to emergency services.
At least six people were killed and 66 injured, including children, across the capital of Kyiv, Mayor Vitali Klitschko said.
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A suspected missile strike on a 24-storey apartment building triggered a collapse, with people likely trapped under the rubble.
Other buildings, including a nine-storey apartment block, caught fire from suspected missile debris, he said.
“In the Obolon district, cars are burning after being struck by falling missile debris. There are also fires at two locations in open areas, including one near a kindergarten,” Klitschko said.
"We couldn't understand what was happening – some kind of apocalypse?" said Olha Mudra, speaking at the site of one strike, accompanied by her six-year-old daughter Natalia.
"Everything was covered (with debris), everything in smoke, you could see nothing," she added, as she stood in front of a destroyed residential building and damaged cars.
Thousands of Kyiv residents were taking refuge in metro stations and other shelters, witnesses said, after air raid warnings covered much of the country early on Tuesday.
The overnight attack cut electricity to 140,000 residents of Ukraine's capital, power company DTEK told Reuters on Tuesday.
Utility workers had since restored electricity to 110,000 residents, DTEK said, adding that two of its engineers had been injured.
Warnings of a major attack
Ukraine's air force said Russia launched 656 drones and 73 missiles overnight, mainly targeting Kyiv. In a statement on Telegram, the air force said 40 missiles and 602 drones had been downed or neutralised.
An air force spokesman said the attack included eight Zircon hypersonic missiles, likely the largest number of those missiles used by Russia during the war. The Zircon has a range of 1,000 kilometres and travels at nine times the speed of sound, according to Moscow.
Russia's defence ministry said it had carried out a "massive strike" on Ukraine's defence industry facilities using high-precision long-range weapons.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Monday reiterated warnings of a potentially major assault and urged residents to pay special attention to air raid alerts.
“Intelligence warnings regarding Russian strikes remain in effect. A massive strike is possible, they have prepared one,” Zelensky said in his nightly video address.
“Our defenders are ready 24/7 to the fullest extent possible with the supplies currently available.”
Russia last week warned that it intended to launch “systematic strikes” on targets in Kyiv linked to the Ukrainian military as well as decision-making centres, and urged foreigners to leave.
It said the action was in response to a drone strike last month on a student dormitory in Ukraine's Russian-held Luhansk region, which killed 21 people. Ukraine denied targeting civilians, saying that it had carried out a series of strikes on military assets.
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In Ukraine's north-eastern Kharkiv region, 10 people, including a child, were injured in drone and missile attacks, Mayor Ihor Terekhov said on Telegram.
Russia's Ilsky oil refinery, in the southern region of Krasnodar, caught fire after a drone attack, local authorities said on Telegram on Tuesday.
Air defence systems were also repelling drone attacks over Sevastopol, a Russian naval fleet base, in Russia-occupied Crimea, authorities there said.
The war in Ukraine has ground on for more than four years since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022.
Efforts to end the conflict have made little progress, with the administration of US President Donald Trump focused on conflicts in the Middle East.
(FRANCE 24 with Reuters and AFP)
