Large-scale Russian attack on Ukraine leaves four dead and dozens injuredShareSaveAdd as preferred on GoogleTinshui YeungandYang Tian
Russia has launched a large-scale wave of strikes against Ukraine, firing hundreds of drones and dozens of missiles.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Kyiv was the main target, but other areas were also hit, with at least 83 people injured.
Four people were killed in the capital city and its surrounding areas, with explosions heard across the region overnight into Sunday, and reports of damage to residential buildings and schools.
Russia's defence ministry said the Oreshnik hypersonic missile was used in the strikes, which it described as coming in response to Ukraine's "attacks on civilian infrastructure".
President Vladimir Putin has accused Ukraine of a deadly strike on a student dormitory in the town of Starobilsk on Friday, in which 21 people were killed.
The general staff of Ukraine's armed forces said it did carry out an attack near Starobilsk in Russian-occupied eastern Ukraine overnight on Friday, but maintained that it struck an elite Russian military unit.
European leaders have condemned the overnight Russian strikes on Sunday, which came after warnings from Zelensky that Russia was planning an attack, and that it may have been preparing to use the Oreshnik missile
It reportedly travels at more than 10 times the speed of sound, is impossible to intercept, and is known to be capable of carrying both conventional and nuclear warheads.
Zelensky said in a Telegram post on Sunday that Russia had launched the Oreshnik missile against the city of Bila Tserkva in the Kyiv region.
Ukraine's presidential office later said it was not confirming that, saying work was ongoing to determine exactly what had been used.
It would be the third time Russia has used the Oreshnik missile in the conflict.
Both French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz condemned the reported use of the weapon, while EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas described it as a "political scare-tactic and reckless nuclear-brinkmanship"
UK Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper lamented the "awful scenes" in Kyiv and vowed to "keep up pressure on Russia".
ReutersUkraine's air force said that from 18:00 local time (15:00 GMT) on Saturday, it detected 90 missiles and 600 drones.
It added that early data showed 55 missiles and 549 drones were shot down or intercepted, while 19 missiles may not have reached their targets.
The attack struck more than 50 locations across Kyiv, according to Ukraine's national police. Residential buildings, shopping centres and emergency services buildings were reportedly struck.
Zelensky said 69 people had been injured in the capital alone, while a water-supply facility was also attacked and the Chernobyl Museum in Kyiv had been "effectively destroyed".
Ukraine's Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said the attack on the museum was "a deliberate attack on history, memory, and truth". Footage and pictures shared by the ministry showed broken glass windows and rubble scattered everywhere.
Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine
Ministry of Internal Affairs of UkraineRussia's defence ministry said it did not carry out strikes against Ukraine's civilian infrastructure, but that command posts for the Main Command of the Ground Forces and the Ukrainian Defence Ministry's Main Intelligence Directorate were hit. Ukraine has not confirmed this.
Kyiv's Mayor Vitali Klitschko earlier said two people had been killed in the city itself, with 36 others, including two children, in hospital.
A person was killed after a nine-storey residential building in the central Shevchenko district was hit and a fire broke out on the top floors.
In the same district, a strike near an air raid shelter at a school blocked its entrance with debris, trapping several people inside.
Emergency services rushed to multiple scenes of damage across the city, putting out blazes, clearing debris and treating the injured.
ReutersIn the wider Kyiv region surrounding the capital, a further two people were also killed, according to regional head Mykola Kalashnyk.
He described the attack as "deliberate terror against peaceful people", adding that "emergency services are working in all places".
Outside Kyiv, the regions of Cherkasy, Kharkiv, Kropyvnytskyi, Odesa, Poltava, Sumy, and Zhytomyr have also come under attack, according to Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha.
UkraineKyivVolodymyr ZelenskyVladimir PutinRussiaWar in Ukraine