Kiev:
A wave of Russian missiles struck Kiev and other Ukrainian cities, killing seven people and wounding dozens, setting fire to and toppling apartment buildings and sparking new panic among exhausted residents.
Rescue workers in Kharkiv – Ukraine's second city located near the Russian border – pulled survivors from smoldering piles of rubble, AFP journalists reported.
The regional governor said six Kharkov residents were killed in the overnight barrage and another 51 were injured, as medics treated survivors in blood-soaked clothing and bandages.
Oleksandra Terekhovich ran into the hallway of her house for protection when she heard the first explosion. The second blast hit the building next door, shattering its windows and door, she said.
“There are no more tears. Our country has been going through what happened for two years now. We live with horror within us,” she told AFP.
Interior Minister Igor Klymenko praised the “heroic” rescuers who he said pulled 27 survivors from the rubble. He posted dramatic footage of workers cutting free a man who had been trapped for hours in the freezing cold.
Ukrainian army chief Valery Zaluzhny said Russian forces fired 41 rockets in the barrage and his forces shot down 21.
AFP reporters in Kiev heard air raid sirens blaring over the capital overnight, followed by a series of loud bangs as defense systems focused on the airstrike.
Mayor Vitali Klitschko said 20 people were injured in the attack on Kiev, which set buildings and cars on fire in central districts.
– 'It is scary' –
Daryna Bodenchuk, a 17-year-old interior design student, said she was in her dorm room in Kiev at the time of the strikes. They shook the building and blew open the basement door where she and others had taken refuge, she said.
“It's really scary. A window in our dormitory was also broken. It was loud,” she told AFP.
In the Kiev region, four people were injured after residential blocks, private homes and farm buildings were damaged, officials said.
Further south, in the city of Pavlograd, the governor of Dnipropetrovsk said one person had been killed and another injured.
Separately, the governor of the southern Kherson region, which the Kremlin claims is part of Russia, said a 70-year-old man had been killed by Russian forces, without giving details.
“We must make Russia pay for the suffering and pain it has caused Ukraine,” Prime Minister Denys Shymgal said in response to the attack.
President Volodymyr Zelensky called the attack an example of “deliberate terror.”
US Ambassador to Ukraine Bridget Brink said the attacks showed Washington should redouble its support.
“Ukraine now needs our continued support to protect itself from these brutal attacks on civilians,” she said on social media.
The French Foreign Ministry has condemned the wave of Russian missiles “in the strongest possible terms”.
“By once again deliberately targeting Ukrainian civilian infrastructure, Russia is committing war crimes and bears sole responsibility for the escalation,” the report said in a statement.
Russia said it had launched long-range strikes on weapons production facilities in Ukraine, without providing details.
“The objectives of the attack have been achieved. All designated facilities have been hit,” a Defense Ministry statement said.
– Kremlin denies that civilians are being targeted –
The Kremlin, responding to reporters' questions about the attacks, denied that Russian forces had targeted civilian infrastructure and vowed to continue Moscow's nearly two-year invasion.
“Our army does not hit civilian facilities or residential areas, nor does it hit civilians – unlike the regime in Kiev,” spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.
This was an apparent reference to an increase in deadly drone and missile attacks that Russian forces have blamed on Kiev, targeting cities and energy facilities near the border.
Russian forces had tried to wrest control of Kharkiv – the city hardest hit by the overnight attacks – early in their invasion, which started in February 2022.
Ukrainian forces pushed back Moscow's army, but since then the military has routinely shelled the city.
The toll from the missile barrage comes in addition to the tens of thousands of soldiers and civilians believed to have been killed since the Russian invasion.
There are no reliable figures on the total death toll, but the United Nations has documented at least 10,200 civilian deaths – including 575 children – and 19,300 injuries.
The actual figures are probably considerably higher.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said this month that his country's priority for 2024 is to gain control of its airspace. Kiev has urged its allies to help boost its air defense capabilities.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)