Kyiv: Ukraine’s two largest cities came under attack on Tuesday from Russian missiles that killed at least five people and injured almost 100, officials said, as the war approached its two-year mark and the Kremlin stepped up its winter bombardment of urban areas.
Four civilians were killed and 92 injured in the capital of Kyiv, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on his Telegram channel, as Kinzhal missiles that can fly at 10 times the speed of sound bore down on the city.
Another person was killed in the northeastern city of Kharkiv, officials said.
Ukrainian Commander-in-Chief Gen. Valerii Zaluzhnyi claimed air defences shot down all 10 of the hypersonic missiles, out of about 100 of various types that were launched.
The barrage extended Russian attacks that began on Friday with its largest single assault on Ukraine since the war started. At least 41 civilians were killed since the weekend.
At a nine-story Kyiv apartment building where two people were killed, 48-year-old Inna Luhina
was getting ready for work when a blast shattered her windows and she and other family members, including her 80-year-old mother, were struck by flying glass.
More than 100 survivors gathered at a school set up as a temporary shelter. Iryna Dzyhil, a 55-year-old resident of the same building, said the explosion threw her and her husband from their chairs, and a subsequent fire trapped them on the top floor until emergency crews rescued them via the roof.
“They say they’re hitting military targets, but they’re hitting people, killing our children and our loved ones,” Dzyhil said of the Russians.
Russia fired almost 100 missiles of various types in the attacks, Zelenskyy said on X, formerly Twitter.