Russian Missile Strikes Kill At Least 14 In Ukraine

A woman breaks down in tears following a Russian missile strike in Ukraine. — Photo: Collected

Russian missile strikes have killed at least 14 people across Ukraine, including one in Kyiv, a day after President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned that a "massive" Russian attack was imminent.

The overnight strikes reached as far west as Lviv, prompting neighbouring Poland to scramble fighter jets to secure its airspace, according to a statement from the Polish armed forces.

Multiple explosions were heard in Kyiv shortly after 1am local time on Thursday, according to local reports.

Emergency services said one person was killed and two others injured in the capital. At least six more people, including two children, were killed in Dnipropetrovsk region, while another person was killed in Poltava, regional officials said.

In Kryvyi Rih, Zelenskyy's hometown, six people were killed, including two girls aged five and 12. Eight others were injured in what Oleksandr Vilkul, head of the city's defence council, described as a direct strike by a Russian Iskander-M ballistic missile.

"A dark night," Vilkul wrote on Telegram, saying the missile was launched from Russia's Voronezh region and struck the home of a large family. He warned that the death toll could rise as emergency teams clear the rubble.

In Lviv, near the Polish border, rescue workers searched through debris after Russian missiles damaged two apartment buildings and injured 26 people, officials said.

Russia's Defence Ministry said its forces had targeted what it described as military facilities across Ukraine, including areas around Kyiv, Lviv and Dnipropetrovsk. It also claimed to have struck three cargo ships near the Black Sea port city of Odesa, alleging they were carrying weapons and military equipment.

"This Russian terror once again proves that protection against the Russian missile threat is the most important task when it comes to saving the lives of our people," Zelenskyy said in a post on X.

He added that protecting Ukraine from the missile threat could not be left to Ukraine alone or to any single country.