At least 23 dead after ‘massive’ Russian missile attack on Ukraine cities

No less than 23 individuals have been killed after Russia launched an enormous missile assault towards cities throughout Ukraine, based on officers.

Within the capital, Kyiv, a minimum of 9 individuals have been killed in a uncommon daytime assault. Town’s mayor stated a kids’s hospital was hit by the missile strike and was being evacuated.

The pinnacle of the army administration within the central Ukrainian metropolis of Kryvyi Rih stated a minimum of 10 individuals had been killed there, with three extra killed within the jap city of Pokrovsk and one in Dnipro.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who is because of go to Poland, stated that Russia had fired some 40 missiles at targets throughout the nation.

“Totally different cities: Kyiv, Dnipro, Kryvyi Rih, Sloviansk, Kramatorsk. Greater than 40 missiles of assorted sorts. Residential buildings, infrastructure and a kids’s hospital have been broken,” Mr Zelensky stated.

Plumes of smoke might be seen throughout the capital Kyiv, whereas video posted on social media confirmed the destruction inside and outdoors of the Okhmadyt kids’s hospital.

Mr Zelensky stated in a social media put up that individuals have been trapped below the rubble of the hospital.

“Proper now, everybody helps to clear the rubble – docs and extraordinary individuals,” the president wrote.

Well being Minister Viktor Lyashko stated most cancers and intensive care wards had been hit within the blast. Pictures from the scene confirmed younger kids – some with IV drips – sitting exterior the hospital because it was evacuated.

Vitaliy Klitschko, Kyiv’s mayor, informed the Reuters information company from the hospital that the bombardment was “one of many the worst assaults” on the capital because the begin of the warfare.

He stated there had been “fatalities” within the assault on the hospital and stated the precise quantity was being clarified.

Elsewhere, Oleksandr Vilkul, head of the army administration in Kryvy Rih, posted on the Telegram messaging app that a minimum of 10 individuals have been killed and 31 wounded following the assault on the town. Of these, he stated 10 have been significantly injured.

Kryvy Rih is Mr Zelensky’s dwelling city and has been repeatedly attacked by Russia because it launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Dnipro regional head Sergiy Lysak stated one individual was killed in Dnipro metropolis and 6 extra injured. He added {that a} high-rise constructing and a enterprise had been hit.

Three individuals have been killed in Pokrovsk, within the jap Donetsk area, the place Russian forces have taken management of quite a few villages in current weeks.

The Russian bombardment comes as Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived in Moscow for a two-day state go to and is because of maintain talks on Monday with President Vladimir Putin on the Kremlin.

Moscow has up to now not commented on the assaults however has beforehand insisted its army doesn’t goal civilian infrastructure.

The UN’s human rights monitoring mission in Ukraine has stated civilian casualties have been mounting in current months, as Russia renewed its air marketing campaign. A current report stated Might was the deadliest month for civilian deaths in nearly a 12 months.

President Zelensky has spent months interesting to Western allies to produce extra air defence techniques.