Russia has pounded Kyiv and Kharkiv with missiles, killing at least four people and injuring almost 100, officials say.
Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on his Telegram channel that four civilians were killed and 92 injured in Kyiv and Kharkiv as hypersonic Kinzhal missiles that can fly at 10 times the speed of sound slammed into city blocks.
Russia fired almost 100 missiles of various types, Zelenskiy said on X, formerly Twitter, on Tuesday.
He said at least 70 missiles were shot down, almost all of them in the Kyiv area, and that Western-supplied air defence systems had saved hundreds of lives.
Russia’s Defence Ministry said it had launched missile and drone strikes on military industrial facilities in and around Kyiv. Depots storing missiles and munitions supplied by Ukraine’s Western allies were also targeted, it said.
“The goal of the strike has been achieved, all the targets have been hit,” it said without elaborating. It was not possible to independently verify either side's claims.
Since Sunday, Zelenskiy said, Russian forces have launched about 170 Shahed drones and “dozens of missiles of various types” in an onslaught against Ukrainian targets. Most were aimed at civilian areas, he said.
Ukraine's air force earlier on Tuesday said it had destroyed all 35 attack drones that Russia launched after midnight targeting several cities in Ukraine, including Kyiv.
The attacks came after Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Monday that Ukraine's earlier strikes on the city of Belgorod, which killed 24 civilians, "will not go unpunished".
The latest assault follows Russia's largest air attack on Ukraine on Friday which killed at least 39 people.
With AP
