Ukraine war: Nineteen dead as Russian missiles hit cities

A wave of Russian air strikes on cities throughout Ukraine, together with Kyiv, has left at the least 19 folks lifeless.

Seventeen folks together with a toddler had been killed in an assault that hit a block of flats within the central metropolis of Uman, officers stated.

And a lady and her three-year-old daughter had been killed within the metropolis of Dnipro, in response to the native mayor.

The Russian defence ministry stated its army had focused Ukrainian military reserve models with the strikes.

State-owned RIA information company stated Russia was aiming for the reserve models and used high-precision weapons on Friday.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky stated the condominium block was amongst 10 residential buildings that had been broken in Uman.

The state rescue service stated the kid killed within the metropolis was born in 2013 and one other 11 folks wanted hospital therapy.

Mr Zelensky stated the assaults confirmed additional worldwide motion wanted to be taken towards Russia.

“Evil might be stopped by weapons – our defenders are doing it. And it may be stopped by sanctions – international sanctions have to be enhanced,” he said in a tweet.

The top of the Kyiv metropolis army administration stated it was the primary Russian missile assault on the capital in 51 days.

There are not any fast reviews of civilian casualties within the capital.

Twenty-one out of 23 missiles and two assault drones had been shot down by Ukraine’s air defence system, officers stated in a put up on the messaging service Telegram.

The Russian-installed mayor of Donetsk stated seven folks had been killed within the separatist-run metropolis when Ukrainian artillery shells hit a minibus. BBC Information has been unable to instantly confirm the declare.

A video posted on Telegram by Ukraine’s State Border Service confirmed a badly broken condominium constructing in Uman after the strikes.

A resident of 1 broken block of flats, Olga, advised the Reuters information company that home windows had been blown out of her condominium “then got here the explosion”.

One man cried as he watched the emergency companies carry a physique away on a stretcher.

One other native resident stated he heard an explosion at 04:30 native time (02:30 GMT), and “there have been two very robust explosions, the whole lot began to burn, automobiles began to burn.”

In Uman, a city that has been largely spared of assaults, a nine-storey condominium constructing partially collapsed after it was hit by a missile.

The pre-dawn assault occurred as folks had been sleeping, and residents had been trapped beneath the rubble.

Greater than 10 hours after the assault, rescuers had been nonetheless working on the web site whereas residents tried to retrieve a few of their belongings.

In close by buildings, some residents had been already fixing damaged home windows.

Oleksander, a 35-year-old resident of the bloc hit, stated he had been woken up after he heard a “highly effective explosion.”

“I could not perceive what was taking place. I went to the balcony and noticed glass all over the place. It was horrible,” he advised the BBC.

“Russia is a terrorist state. You possibly can see, there is not any army object right here. And it occurred at 4 o’clock within the morning, as folks had been sleeping”.

One other resident, 60-year-old Vanda, stated she heard an explosion and “the whole lot shook”.

“We tried to search out methods to go away the constructing. I heard a voice of a kid who was screaming within the flat subsequent to ours. We needed to assist different folks. There was smoke and fireplace all over the place,” she stated.

“Peaceable folks had been simply sleeping.”

The assaults come as Ukrainian forces say they’re able to launch a army offensive with new tools, together with tanks, equipped by Western allies.

“As quickly as there may be God’s will, the climate and a call by commanders, we’ll do it,” Ukrainian Defence Minister Oleksii Reznikov advised a web-based information briefing on Friday.

Russia has struggled to make headway in a winter offensive together with a 10-month battle for management of the strategically essential metropolis of Bakhmut.

The Russian defence ministry stated on Friday its army had focused Ukrainian military reserve models with long-range strikes utilizing high-precision weapons, in response to a report by the state-owned RIA information company.

Moscow has beforehand stated it doesn’t intentionally goal civilians, however hundreds have been injured and killed throughout Ukraine since Russia’s invasion.