Kyiv Rocked By Explosions In Huge Overnight Russian Missile Attack

More than 20 Russian missiles and drones were downed over Kyiv in the early hours of Thursday morning, city authorities have said, as a series of powerful explosions rocked the capital. 

Missile debris fell in several districts of the city injuring at least seven people, Mayor Vitali Klitschko said in a post on Telegram. 

Air raid sirens sounded in Kyiv just before 4:30 a.m. Around an hour later, a Kyiv Post reporter in the Podil district heard what appeared to be a loitering drone followed by the sounds of anti-aircraft fire and then an explosion nearby. 

Kyiv Post reporters in the center of the city heard a series of loud explosions overhead as missiles and drones were intercepted by air defenses.

According to Serhii Popko, head of the Kyiv city military administration, X-101/555-type cruise missiles were launched from about 10 Tu-95MS strategic aircraft. 

Later on Monday morning, Valery Zaluzhny, commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian armed forces, said on social media that Ukrainian forces had downed 36 of 43 cruise missiles launched by Russian bombers.

Klitschko said emergency services were attending at least two locations in the capital: “Kyiv survived another night attack by Russian barbarians.

“In the Svyatoshyn district, where there were power outages, the power industry has restored the electrical power.

“According to medics, seven people were injured in Darnytsia district. Three of them are in city hospitals. Four people received help on the spot, there were no injuries.”

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The attack also targeted cities across Ukraine with officials and local media reporting blasts in Kharkiv, Khmelnytskiy, Rivne, Vinnytsia, Lviv and Ivano-Frankivsk regions.

"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."

Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said seven people were injured in the central Ukrainian city of Cherkasy after a hotel and several shopping kiosks were hit.

Power outages have been reported in some areas suggesting the attack could mark the beginning of Russia’s expected campaign to damage civilian infrastructure like it did last year beginning in early October.

"Tonight, Russia launched a massive attack on Ukraine," Oleksiy Kuleba, the deputy head of the presidential office said.

"Difficult months are ahead: Russia will attack energy and critically important facilities," he added, as fears rise over energy security ahead of a second winter of war.