Russian air raids kill 11 in Ukraine, damage cities

Russian air raids on major Ukrainian centres including Kyiv, Dnipro and Kharkiv have killed at least 11 people, injured dozens and left others trapped.

Russia launched 73 missiles and 656 drones at Ukraine, according to the Ukrainian air force, with the main targets including Kyiv, the central city of Dnipro and the eastern cities of Poltava, Kharkiv and Zaporizhzhia. Ukrainian air defences destroyed or suppressed 40 missiles and 602 drones.

Thirty ballistic missiles, three cruise missiles and 33 drones hit targets across at least 38 locations. Debris from destroyed drones fell on 15 locations, the air force said.

In Kyiv, at least four people were killed and 63 people were injured, including three children, Ukraine’s state emergency service said.

At least six people were killed and 36 injured in Dnipro, including a rescuer killed in a second attack as emergency responders arrived at the scene of a first.

The regional governor, Oleksandr Hanzha, posted pictures on social media of heavily damaged residential buildings, burnt-out vehicles and a destroyed children’s playground.

In Kharkiv, at least 14 people were injured and residential homes, garages and cars were damaged.

Kyiv’s mayor, Vitali Klitschko, said a suspected missile strike on a 24-storey block of flats in Kyiv triggered a collapse and people were thought to be trapped under the rubble. Other buildings including a nine-storey apartment block caught fire, 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.

Thousands of residents of Kyiv were taking refuge underground in metro stations and other shelters, witnesses said, after air raid warnings that covered much of the country early on Tuesday.

In the Podilskyi district, there was partial damage to the upper floors of a nine-story building, trapping people under the rubble. Rescue operations were under way in the early hours of the morning even as the air raid alert remained in effect.

Olena Dniprovska, 65, and her husband, Yevhen, 64, were injured in their flat in Kyiv’s Podilskyi district during the attack. “I went out into the corridor with the phone and before I understood what happened, everything fell on my head, the glass, and the door blew off,” Dniprovska told Associated Press, dried blood streaked across her face and a bandage wrapped around her chin.

“I ran out into the front door and started calling my husband from the room, but he was also blown out by the blast wave,” she said. “Now I have nowhere to live, the apartment is completely destroyed, no doors, no windows, no balcony. You can step straight from the room out on to the street.”

Electricity was cut for 140,000 residents of the capital, the power company DTEK told Reuters. It later said utility workers had restored power to 110,000 residents, and two of its engineers had been injured.

On Monday, Volodymyr Zelenskyy had 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,” Ukraine’s president said in his nightly video address. “Our defenders are ready 24/7 to the fullest extent possible with the supplies currently available.”

Last week Russia said 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 came after a drone strike on a dormitory in the Russian-held Luhansk region of Ukraine, which killed 21 people. Ukraine denied carrying out the attack.

Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report