Russia has carried out missile strikes on Ukraine’s two biggest cities – damaging apartment buildings and killing at least six people.
The attacks on the capital Kyiv and second largest city Kharkiv came after Moscow shunned any deal backed by Ukraine and its Western allies to end the nearly two-year war.
The strikes also come two days after Moscow-installed officials in eastern Ukraine claimed that Ukrainian shelling had killed 27 people on the outskirts of Russian-occupied Donetsk.
The Russian barrage on Tuesday included more than 40 ballistic, cruise, anti-aircraft and guided missiles, officials said.
Ukraine’s air force said it had intercepted 21 of them.
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The attack injured at least 20 people in four districts of the capital Kyiv, including a 13-year-old boy, according to the city’s Mayor Vitali Klitschko.
In Kharkiv, in northeast Ukraine, the attacks killed six and injured 48, including four minors, as the missiles damaged around 30 residential buildings and shattered nearly a thousand apartment windows in icy weather, regional governor Oleh Syniehubov said.
Russia used S-300, Kh-32 and hypersonic Iskander missiles in the attack, Mr Syniehubov said.
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Kharkiv mayor Ihor Terekhov said the temperature in the city was -7C (19F).
Image: Rescuers at the site of a damaged building in Kharkiv
Image: Rescuers in Kharkiv after the strikes
An entire section of a multi-storey residential building was destroyed, trapping an unknown number of people, Mr Terekhov said.
Lying about 18 miles (30km) from the border with Russia, Kharkiv has often felt the brunt of Russia’s winter campaign of long-range strikes that commonly hit civilian areas.
The attacks keep Ukrainians on edge while the 930-mile long (1,500km) frontline has barely budged.
Both sides’ inability to deliver a knockout punch on the battlefield has pushed the fighting towards trench and artillery warfare.
Analysts say the Kremlin’s forces stockpiled missiles at the end of last year to press a winter campaign of aerial bombardment.
Image: Local residents collect goods at a street market destroyed during a Russian missile attack in Kharkiv
A missile also killed a 43-year-old woman and damaged two schools and eight high-rise buildings in Pavlohrad, an industrial city in the eastern Dnipro region, the country’s presidential office said.
In Balakliia, in the Kharkiv region, an 88-year-old man and a 78-year-old woman were rescued from the rubble of a house after Russian shelling, it said.
And in the south, Russia attacked the city of Beryslav with drones, killing a 69-year-old man on a motorcycle.
There appears to be little chance of an end to the war anytime soon.
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Sergei Lavrov, Russia’s top diplomat, claimed that Ukrainian forces had been “a complete failure” on the battlefield and were “incapable” of defeating Russia.
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Image: Bomb squad members load part of a missile on to a truck after a Russian missile attack in Kyiv
Image: The debris of a partially-destroyed building is seen in Kyiv after a Russian strike. Pic: AP
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Ukraine committed a “monstrous terrorist act” when he accused the country of carrying out shelling which left 27 people dead in Donetsk on Sunday.
But the Ukrainian military denied it had anything to do with the attack.
Mr Peskov said Tuesday’s attacks should not be seen as Moscow’s response to the Donetsk strike.
He repeated the Kremlin’s argument that its forces do not strike civilian areas, although there is substantial evidence to the contrary.
The Ukrainian civilian deaths have helped stir international outrage over Russia’s invasion of its neighbour, and Ukrainian officials have pointed to the attacks in their efforts to secure further military aid from the country’s allies.
NATO signed a $1.2bn (£950m) contract to make tens of thousands of artillery rounds to replenish the dwindling stocks of its member countries.
The contract will allow allies to backfill their arsenals and provide Ukraine with more ammunition.
Source : Sky News
