Kyiv and other major Ukrainian cities have been hit by missile strikes in the wake of an attack on the bridge that links Russia to Crimea.
Following at least four explosions in the capital on Monday morning, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy claimed Vladimir Putin’s forces are targeting “people” and “energy facilities”.
‘Critical infrastructure’ hit in Kyiv; follow Ukraine updates live
Blasts have also been heard in Lviv, Ternopil, Dnipro, Zhytomyr, and Zaporizhzhia.
Kyiv
In the early hours of Monday morning, reports of several explosions in the Ukrainian capital started to emerge.
Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko said on Telegram that “the capital is under attack from Russian terrorists”.
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He claimed: “Rockets hit objects in the city center – in the Shevchenkiv district and in the Soloyman district”. He later described “critical infrastructure” as being struck.
Sky News has confirmed the locations of four explosions – one in Taras Shevchenko Park, another in a nearby road, and a third at a tower block a few streets away.
CCTV also shows a large explosion near the Glass Bridge over the Dnipro River.
Military intelligence expert Forbes McKenzie told Sky News the Kyiv attacks were deliberately carried out at morning rush hour.
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Ukrainian MP Andrii Osadchuk described the locations of the two explosions in and around the park.
“It’s like Hyde Park Corner in London, it’s at the crossroads of two universities,” he told Sky News.
“The park was attacked, with a playground on this park.”
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Rostyslav Smyrnov, an aide to Ukraine’s interior minister, said that eight people had been killed in the Kyiv explosions, with six cars set alight and 15 other vehicles damaged.
Zaporizhzhia
An adviser to Mr Zelenskyy, Mykhailo Podolyak, said that on Sunday a “residential area of Zaporizhzhia” had been hit by planes with “12 missiles”.
He claimed they killed 13 people and injured “more than 50”.
In his overnight address, Mr Zelenskyy said the Russians were trying to “destroy our people who are sleeping at home in Zaporizhzhia”.
Located in the southwest of the country, Kremlin forces have been occupying a nuclear power plant there – Europe’s largest – since the beginning of the war in February.
Energy facilities targeted
Speaking on Monday morning, Mr Zelenskyy said that following the heavy damage to the Kerch Bridge linking Russia to Crimea, Mr Putin has “two targets”.
He listed “energy facilities throughout the country” that had been damaged.
“Kyiv region; Khmelnytsky region, Lviv and Dnipro; Vinnytsia, Frankiv region; Zaporizhzhia; Sumy region; Kharkiv region; Zhytormyr region; Kirovohrad region, south,” he wrote.
“They want panic and chaos, they want to destroy our energy system,” he added.
Intelligence analyst Mr McKenzie told Sky News the attacks were “coordinated… almost certainly in reaction to the bombing of Kerch Bridge”.
The numbers of deaths and injuries are still unknown in several regions.
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MP Mr Osadchuk told Sky News that “several central heating stations” have been damaged, which would leave thousands without heat in their homes.
In total, the Ukrainian Defence Ministry said it had neutralised 41 of 75 missiles fired across Ukraine in the latest wave of strikes.
