KYIV—On Tuesday, Russia launched a barrage of missiles and drones toward the capital of Ukraine, Kyiv, as well as the city of Kharkiv in the northeast, inflicting extensive damage and killing at least five people, according to officials.
President Vladimir Putin warned on Monday that a Ukrainian air strike on the Russian city of Belgorod, which Moscow said killed 25 civilians, would "not go unpunished." On Monday, there were airstrikes on Ukraine for the third day in a row.
According to Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko, smoke was spewing from the burned side of a high-rise residential structure where missile shrapnel had crashed into a hole a few meters away.
He stated that 43 more people had been injured at the scene and that an elderly woman had passed away in an ambulance. According to emergency personnel, a corpse was also found on the eighth level of the collapsed structure.
Russia intensified its use of drones and missiles against Ukraine on December 29, the day it carried out the worst airstrike of the conflict, killing at least 39 people.
Russia still controls large portions of eastern and southern Ukraine over two years after Moscow's invasion, and the conflict shows no signs of coming to an end.
Klitschko said that various regions in the capital had lost power and water, and that damage had been done to gas pipes in the Pecherskyi neighborhood of Kyiv.
DTEK, a private energy provider, was attempting to restore electricity.
Dmytro Kuleba, the foreign minister, urged Kyiv's Western partners to quicken the delivery of combat drones, long-range missiles, and air defense systems.
According to Oleh Synehubov, regional governor of Kharkiv, a 91-year-old woman was murdered in a missile assault that caused a crater several meters deep next to damaged residential structures.
According to him, the strike on the city center at around 07:30 (0530 GMT) left 45 people wounded.
A drone strike that Ukraine claimed to have thwarted hours earlier came before the missile barrage.
The regional government said that 11 people were injured and a couple had died in the area outside of Kiev. According to the report, at least 60 autos and twelve residential buildings were also destroyed.
