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    • Russian missiles hit Ukrainian cities, killing 5 and injuring almost 100, Kyiv officials say

    KYIV, Ukraine -

    Ukraine's two largest cities came under attack Tuesday from Russian missiles that killed at least five people and injured almost 100, officials said, as the war approached its two-year mark and the Kremlin stepped up its winter bombardment of urban areas.

    Four civilians were killed and 92 injured in the capital of Kyiv, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on his Telegram channel, as Kinzhal missiles that can fly at 10 times the speed of sound bore down on the city. Another person was killed in the northeastern city of Kharkiv, officials said.

    Ukrainian Commander-in-Chief Gen. Valerii Zaluzhnyi claimed air defences shot down all 10 of the hypersonic missiles, out of about 100 of various types that were launched.

    The barrage extended Russian attacks that began Friday with its largest single assault on Ukraine since the war started. At least 41 civilians were killed since the weekend.

    At a nine-story Kyiv apartment building where two people were killed, 48-year-old Inna Luhina was getting ready for work when a blast shattered her windows and she and other family members, including her 80-year-old mother, were struck by flying glass.

    More than 100 survivors gathered at a school set up as a temporary shelter.

    Iryna Dzyhil, a 55-year-old resident of the same building, said the explosion threw her and her husband from their chairs, and a subsequent fire trapped them on the top floor until emergency crews rescued them via the roof.

    “They say they're hitting military targets, but they're hitting people, killing our children and our loved ones,” Dzyhil said of the Russians.

    Rescue workers extinguish a fire near the building damaged by a Russian rocket attack in Kyiv, Ukraine, Tuesday, Jan. 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)

    Russia fired almost 100 missiles of various types in the attacks, Zelenskyy said on X, formerly Twitter. He claimed at least 70 were shot down, almost all of them in the Kyiv area, noting that Western-supplied air defence systems such as Patriots and NASAMS had saved hundreds of lives.

    Russia's Defense Ministry said it had launched missile and drone strikes on military-industrial facilities in and around Kyiv. Depots storing missiles and munitions supplied by the West also were targeted, it said.

    “The goal of the strike has been achieved, all the targets have been hit,” it said without elaborating.

    It was not possible to independently verify either side's claims.

    Zelenskyy said that since Sunday, Russian forces have launched about 170 Shahed drones and dozens of missiles, with most aimed at civilian areas.

    The Kh-47M2 Kinzhal is an air-launched hypersonic ballistic missile. Russian forces rarely use such expensive missiles against Ukraine, due to their limited stocks.

    The attacks created a desolate morning scene in Kyiv, with most cafes and restaurants remaining closed. Many people opted to stay indoors or seek refuge in shelters as powerful blasts shook the city from early morning. Air raid sirens blared for nearly four hours, and the city's subway stations - which function as shelters - were crowded.

    After the air force issued warnings about incoming missiles, people wearing pyjamas underneath their coats took sleeping bags, mats and their pets to subway stations while loud explosions echoed above. At one of the central stations, called Golden Gates, hundreds of people filled the spacious underground areas while trains continued to run.

    “Perhaps today was the most frightening because there were so many explosions,” said resident Myroslava Shcherba.

    On Saturday, shelling of the Russian border city of Belgorod killed more than two dozen people. Russia blamed Ukraine for the attack and has struck back repeatedly since then.

    The Belgorod attack was one of the deadliest on Russian soil since Moscow's full-scale invasion of Ukraine started more than 22 months ago. Russian officials said the death toll reached 26, including five children, after a new salvo of rockets Tuesday.

    Air defence systems near Belgorod shot down four missiles fired Tuesday by a Ukrainian Vilkha multiple rocket launcher, the Russian Defense Ministry said.

    Cities in western Russia have regularly come under drone attacks since May, although Ukrainian officials never acknowledge responsibility for strikes on Russian territory or the annexed Crimean Peninsula.

    “They want to intimidate us and create uncertainty within our country. We will intensify strikes. Not a single crime against our civilian population will go unpunished,” Russian President Vladimir Putin said Monday, describing the barrage of Belgorod as a “terrorist act.”

    He accused Western nations of using Ukraine to try to “put Russia in its place.” While vowing retribution, he insisted Moscow would only target military infrastructure in Ukraine, but officials in Kyiv report civilian casualties from daily attacks on apartment buildings, shopping centres and residential areas.

    In other developments, Russia's Defense Ministry said one of its warplanes accidentally released munitions over the southwestern Russian village of Petropavlovka in the Voronezh region Tuesday, damaging six houses but causing no injuries. It said an investigation will determine the cause of the accident but didn't say what type of weapon the warplane dropped.

    In April, munitions accidentally released by a Russian warplane caused a powerful blast in Belgorod, damaging several cars and slightly injuring two people.

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