Russia likely launched more than 100 missiles, including those fired from strategic bombers, as well as sea-launched Kalibr missiles, the UK’s The Guardian newspaper reported.
Explosions hit Kyiv, the western city of Odesa, the southeastern city of Zaporizhzhia, and the central regions of Vinnytsia and Cherkasy, the Ukrainska Pravda website reported.
Two killed, two wounded in Zaporizhzhia region
In the Zaporizhzhia region, several private houses were destroyed in a Russian strike on the village of Novosofiivka, with two people killed and two more injured, according to Kyrylo Tymoshenko, deputy head of the Ukrainian presidential staff.
Tymoshenko wrote on the social messaging app Telegram that details were still being clarified, according to Ukrainska Pravda.
Meanwhile, Ukraine’s air defence was firing in the Vinnytsia, Cherkasy, and Kyiv provinces, after earlier successful efforts in the northeastern Kharkiv region, Ukrainska Pravda added.
The head of the Odesa Region Military Administration, Maksym Marchenko, announced that Russian forces had launched rockets, adding: "I ask the residents of the oblast not to ignore the air-raid siren and immediately take shelter".
The mayor of the central city of Kremenchuk, Vitalii Maletskyi, said that “strikes on energy infrastructure facilities” were possible and called on citizens “to close their windows and keep the heat inside the premises as much as possible,” as cited by Ukrainska Pravda.
The head of Poltava Oblast Military Administration Dmytro Lunin also said that air defence was working in the province, the website reported.
Three waves of missiles expected
“Don’t ignore the alarm”, Andriy Yermak, head of the Ukrainian presidential staff, appealed to the people of Ukraine, as cited by The Guardian.
Shortly after Ukrainian officials said the first barrage of missiles was over, warning that there may be several, Vitalii Kim, the Head of Mykolaiv Oblast Military Administration, in southern Ukraine, reported at 3.10 p.m. local time that the second wave of missile attacks had begun.
He added there would likely be three such waves, Ukrainska Pravda said.
Monday is day 285 of Russia’s war on Ukraine.
As winter sets in, Russian forces faced major setbacks on the battlefield in Ukraine and have recently started intensifying attacks on heating infrastructure and the energy grid, causing power outages across the war-torn country. For that reason, Russia has been accused by Kyiv and allies of deliberately harming civilians, which are increasingly exposed to heat, electricity, and water shortages.
(pm/jh)
Source: PAP, theguardian.com, pravda.com.ua