SEVERAL UKRAINIAN CITIES were targeted by Russian attacks overnight, leaving two dead in Kherson today while falling debris from downed incoming missiles caused multiple injuries in the capital Kyiv.

“Since the beginning of the current day, the Russian occupiers have launched a massive missile attack on the civilian infrastructure of a number of regions,” Ukraine’s General Staff said.

Two men aged 29 and 41 were killed in Russian shelling which hit a dormitory in the southern city of Kherson, the regional governor Oleksandr Prokudin said.

“The Russian army shelled the residential quarters of Kherson,” he said on the messaging platform Telegram.

As of this hour, we know of two dead civilians… they were inside the dormitory.”

Four people were taken to hospital, Prokudin added, including a 61-year-old woman in a serious condition.

Ukrainian military authorities said Russia launched cruise missile attacks on Kyiv overnight.

The falling debris from shot-down missiles resulted in seven people injured and damage to buildings.

“According to initial reports, cruise missiles of the X-101/555/55 type were launched from about 10 Tu-95MS strategic aircraft,” Sergiy Popko, head of the city’s military administration, said on Telegram.

“More than 20 enemy targets were destroyed by air defence forces and means.

“As a result of the downing of the missiles, debris fell in several areas of the capital.”

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said on Telegram that according to medics, seven people were injured in Darnytskyi district.

“Three of them are in city hospitals. Four were treated at the scene,” he said.

A nine-year-old girl and an 18-year-old woman were among the three taken to hospital, he said.

Klitschko said debris also fell on a service station and a vocational technical education institute, and emergency crews were still working on the scene.

Popko said the air alarm in Kyiv lasted more than two hours.

“The capital has already passed the mark of 1,000 hours of alerts since the start of the full-scale invasion,” he said.

“We survived it and will overcome a lot more together.”

Meanwhile Kharkiv Mayor Igor Terekhov said two people were hospitalised “as a result of the morning shelling” of the eastern city, which is close to the Russian border.

He said on Telegram that there were “at least six strikes,” all in the Slobidsky district.

Oleg Synegubov, governor of the wider Kharkiv region, added that there was “damage to civil infrastructure”.

© AFP 2023