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Russia on Tuesday rained missiles on Ukraine’s two most important cities, killing 4 individuals and injuring dozens whereas 250,000 customers within the capital area had been left with out energy in near-freezing temperatures.
The assaults on the capital Kyiv and the northeastern metropolis of Kharkiv got here lower than 24 hours after Russian President Vladimir Putin mentioned Moscow would intensify strikes.
“One wounded aged girl from a constructing within the Solomyansky district… died in an ambulance. Twenty-seven wounded individuals had been hospitalised,” Kyiv mayor Vitaly Klitschko mentioned.
Ukraine’s inside minister Igor Klymenko mentioned two individuals had been killed within the Kyiv area.
Nationwide vitality firm Ukrenergo mentioned 250,000 customers had been with out electrical energy in Kyiv and surrounding areas after the strikes. Temperatures within the area had been hovering round three levels Celsius (37.4 levels Fahrenheit).
The pinnacle of Kharkiv Oleg Sinegubov mentioned one girl was killed within the northeastern metropolis in assaults denounced Tuesday by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky as “Russian terror”.
Kyiv authorities mentioned missiles triggered fires in a grocery store constructing, homes and a market.
Strikes in Kharkiv wounded over 40 individuals and broken multi-storey buildings, mentioned the pinnacle of town’s navy administration, Oleg Sinegubov.
The Ukrainian air drive mentioned Russia was launching Kinzhal missiles.
In an indication of rising concern, Poland on Tuesday scrambled 4 F-16 fighter jets to its border with Ukraine to guard its airspace.
Poland — a NATO and EU member — is a staunch ally of Ukraine because the Russian invasion nears its second anniversary.
Over the past wave of lethal assaults on Ukraine on Friday, Poland mentioned a Russian missile had handed by its airspace.
Tuesday’s assaults got here after an escalation within the battle in latest days.
Putin on Monday known as an unprecedented Ukrainian assault on the Russian metropolis of Belgorod a “terrorist act” and vowed retaliation.
Moscow additionally attacked Ukraine with a barrage of drones on New 12 months’s Eve.
Ukraine is looking for assurances from its backers that navy assist will proceed as any new funds for assist is stalled in Washington.
– ‘Vital we assist Ukraine’ –
“Putin is ringing in 2024 by launching missiles at Kyiv and across the nation as tens of millions of Ukrainians take shelter in freezing temps. Loud explosions in Kyiv this morning,” US Ambassador to Ukraine Bridget Brink wrote on X.
“It is pressing and demanding that we assist Ukraine now — to cease Putin right here.”
Kyiv mayor Klitschko reported a number of explosions and particles from downed missiles hitting the capital as residents had been suggested to remain in underground shelters.
Within the Pechersk district, particles hit the roof of a nine-storey constructing and one other constructing, the navy administration mentioned.
Fires additionally broke out in a grocery store and a warehouse measuring 2,000 sq. metres, the mayor mentioned.
“As quickly because the safety scenario permits it, we will certainly restore electrical energy to everybody,” town’s navy administration mentioned.
Within the metropolis’s Podil district, most important water pipes have been broken, it added.
The assaults got here after Russia on December 29 launched a wave of strikes throughout Ukrainian cities, together with Kyiv, which killed 39 individuals.
Moscow additionally hit Ukrainian cities on New 12 months’s Eve, with Kyiv saying it had foiled a “file” variety of drones launched by Russia.
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Initially printed as Lethal Russian strikes pound Ukraine cities
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