The early-morning attack on cities across Ukraine was Russia’s first large-scale aerial assault on the country in nearly two months, the Reuters news agency reported.
The central city of Uman was hit particularly hard, according to Polish state news agency PAP.
A Russian missile struck a nine-storey block of flats before dawn, while inhabitants were still sleeping, Britain’s The Guardian newspaper reported.
By 10 a.m. CET, the death toll from the attack had risen to at least 10, with 17 wounded, according to Ukraine’s Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko.
Earlier, President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a tweet: Another night of Russian terror. Missiles and UAVs. Ten residential buildings are damaged in Uman. The entire block of one of them is destroyed.”
He said people had been killed and wounded as a result of the attack.
Zelensky urged: “Russian evil can be stopped by weapons – our defenders are doing it. And it can be stopped by sanctions – global sanctions must be enhanced.”
According to regional governor Igor Taburets, Uman was hit by two cruise missiles, with one hitting a residential building and the other a warehouse, The Guardian reported.
Two killed in Russian attack on Dnipro
Meanwhile, two people, including a two-year-old child, were killed in Ukraine’s central city of Dnipro, Mayor Borys Filatov said.
According to regional governor Serhiy Lysak, a Russian missile struck a house, killing a two-year-old child and a 31-year-old woman, with three people also wounded in the attack.
The Ukrainian army said it had shot down 21 of 23 cruise missiles fired by Russia, Reuters reported.
Blasts hit Kyiv
Explosions also rocked Ukraine’s capital Kyiv, with air defence units destroying 11 missiles and two drones, according to officials.
Elsewhere, two people were wounded in the town of Ukrayinka just south of Kyiv, while blasts were reported after midnight in the central cities of Kremenchuk and Poltava, as well as the southern city of Mykolaiv, Reuters reported.
It was not clear what Russia was targeting in Friday's attacks, although it has regularly struck Ukraine’s civilian infrastructure, particularly energy facilities throughout the winter, according to Reuters.
It said the bid “to freeze Ukrainian cities” had ultimately failed, with Russia using up much of its long-range missile arsenal in the process, according to Western countries.
“Missile strikes killing innocent Ukrainians in their sleep, including a 2-year-old child, is Russia’s response to all peace initiatives,” Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said in a tweet.
Friday is day 429 of Russia’s war on Ukraine.
(pm/gs)
Source: PAP, Reuters, BBC, The Guardian