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Air raids across Ukraine; multiple regions hit, deaths reported
Two reported killed in Dnipro and five taken to hospital in Uman after missile hits apartment block.
At least two people have been killed and five injured after multiple cities and regions across Ukraine, including the capital Kyiv, were attacked in a series of night-time air raids.
In Dnipro, the city’s mayor Borys Filatov said a woman and a three-year-old child were killed in the attacks in the early hours of Friday morning, but gave no further details.
“No more words,” he wrote.
Videos shared on social media showed an apartment block in Uman, a city of 80,000 people in central Ukraine’s Cherkasy oblast, billowing flames and smoke. The footage showed a corner of the building had collapsed with piles of rubble on the ground beneath.
Cherkasy Governor Ihor Taburets said emergency services were at the scene and five people had been taken to hospital.
“We have two cruise missile hits on Uman; a residential building and a warehouse building,” Taburets wrote on Telegram. “We are finding out the consequences. The air alert continues.”
Blasts were also heard in Kremenchuk and Poltava in central Ukraine, as well as Mykolaiv in the south, according to the Interfax Ukraine news agency and social media channels.
There were no immediate reports on the damage or any casualties in Kyiv following the attacks, with city officials saying air defence systems had destroyed at least 11 cruise missiles and two drones.
“Woke up to explosions,” a Kyiv resident told Al Jazeera via text message. “It felt like an earthquake.”
The raids are the first large-scale air attacks on Ukraine in months and come as Moscow’s forces continue to battle for control of the ruined city of Bakhmut, and as Kyiv prepares for a major counteroffensive to retake territory in the country’s east and south that is occupied by the Russians.
The attacks also follow a landmark phone call between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Chinese President Xi Jinping, the first between the two leaders since Moscow began its full-scale invasion in February 2022.
China is trying to position itself as a peacemaker between the two countries.
“China always stands on the side of peace and China’s core position is to promote peace via talks,” the state-run Global Times quoted Xi as saying during the call.
China unveiled its 12-point peace plan on Ukraine – calling for de-escalation and an eventual ceasefire – on the first anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion.
With reporting by Sasha Petrova
