Russian missiles have killed at least seven people and struck a children’s cancer hospital in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv, authorities said.
Another Russian attack in the central Ukrainian city of Kryvyi Rih is said to have killed at least 10 people.
The Russian barrage targeted five Ukrainian cities with more than 40 missiles of different types, hitting apartment buildings and public infrastructure, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a social media post.
At least 20 people were killed and around 50 people were injured across the country in the Monday morning onslaught, interior minister Ihor Klymenko said.
In Kryvyi Rih, 31 people were injured in addition to the 10 deaths in what the head of city administration, Oleksandr Vilkul, said was a massive missile attack.
Explosions were also reported by local officials in Ukraine’s central Dnipropetrovsk region.
At the Okhmatdyt children’s hospital in Kyiv, rescuers were searching for people under the rubble of a partially collapsed wing of the facility, Mr Zelensky said, adding that the number of casualties was not yet known.
“It is very important that the world should not be silent about it now and that everyone should see what Russia is and what it is doing,” Mr Zelensky said on social media.
The assault is the biggest bombardment of Kyiv for several months.
The daylight attacks included Kinzhal hypersonic missiles, one of the most advanced Russian weapons, the Ukrainian air force said.
The Kinzhal flies at 10 times the speed of sound, making it hard to intercept. City buildings shook from the blasts.
The Kyiv city administration reported falling debris, presumably from intercepted missiles, in a handful of Kyiv areas, with fires breaking out. Thick plumes of smoke could be seen rising from several parts of the capital.
The head of Ukraine’s presidential office, Andrii Yermal, said the attack occurred at a time when many people were in the city’s streets.
Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko said official assessments of the attack’s consequences are still being carried out.
The attack came on the eve of a three-day Nato summit in Washington, which will look at how to reassure Ukraine of the alliance’s unwavering support and offer Ukrainians hope that their country can come through Europe’s biggest conflict since the Second World War.
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