Russian missile strikes on Ukrainian cities kill 18, Zelenskiy says

 Russian missiles hit Ukraine’s two largest cities, killing 18 people, injuring more than 130 and damaging homes and infrastructure, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said as Moscow’s war approaches its third year.

The eastern city of Kharkiv suffered three waves of attacks. There were strikes on Kyiv and in central Ukraine and the southern region of Kherson, subject to constant shelling.

Zelenskiy, in his nightly video address, said Russia had launched nearly 40 missiles of different types in “another combined strike to try to circumvent our air defence system”.

More than 200 sites were hit, including 139 dwellings, with many deaths in “an ordinary high-rise apartment building. Ordinary people lived there,” he said.

Kharkiv’s mayor and the governor of Kharkiv region said eight people had been killed in the city, which has been subjected to repeated attacks in 23 months of war.

Ukraine’s Emergency Services posted online a video of teams sifting through a shattered apartment building. Police said search operations were suspended before midnight as there was a danger of debris falling on rescue squads.

via REuters