According to Ukraine’s officials, Russia commenced a substantial missile assault across Ukraine on Monday morning, targeting residential and industrial facilities and causing injuries to several people.
From approximately 6 a.m. local time (0400 GMT), the entirety of Ukraine was under air raid alerts, with the Ukraine’s Air Force reporting multiple waves of cruise missile threats and even ballistic missiles in certain regions.
“The enemy is viciously attacking peaceful cities,” stated Oleksandr Vilkul, mayor of the southern Ukrainian city of Kryvyi Rih, on the Telegram messaging app.
Vilkul asserted that the full extent of potential damages resulting from the Russian attack will be revealed once the attack has concluded.
At present, the specific targets of the Russian attack and the full scale of the strikes remain unclear. There has been no immediate comment from Moscow.
Anatoliy Kurtiev, secretary of the southeastern Zaporizhzhia city council, announced on Telegram that a missile attack on the city resulted in injuries, but did not provide further details.
Igor Terekhov, Mayor of Ukraine’s second-largest city Kharkiv, reported that at least one woman was injured in an attack, and industrial facilities were hit, causing a fire.
Yuriy Malashko, regional governor of Zaporizhzhia, stated that five blasts were heard in the city, and at least two people were injured. “Missiles hit residential areas,” Malashko added on Telegram.
In addition, military officials in other cities, including Dnipropetrovsk and Khmelnytskyi, also confirmed that their cities were under a “massive missile attack” by Russia.
After nearly two years of war following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, both sides have intensified air strikes on each other’s territories, as neither have made significant gains along the frontlines.
Russia has particularly targeted Kyiv and Ukraine’s second-largest city Kharkiv with some of its largest attacks.
(Additional reporting by Lidia Kelly in Melbourne; Writing by Lidia Kelly; Editing by Kim Coghill and Michael Perry)
