In Kyiv, at least three people were injured in the attacks. 90 percent of the western metropolis of Lviv is without electricity.
10:50•Updated 11:28
HELSINKI / KIEV According to Ukraine, this morning Russia launched a major missile attack across the country, including the capital, Kiev.
The Ukrainian Air Force characterizes the attack as “massive”. According to it, Russia has attacked Ukraine from different directions with cruise missiles fired from airplanes and from ships at sea.
– The air alert came early this morning, around six, when the city was still sleeping, says Ylen’s reporter in Kyiv Maxim Fedorov.
More than 120 missiles were fired at Ukraine, informs Ukraine’s strategic communications center Stratcom Centre.
There have been explosions at least in the regions of Kyiv, Pultava, Odessa, Sumy, Chernihiv and Žytomyr. Anti-aircraft has shot down Russian missiles in several areas across the country.
In addition to Kyiv, there have been explosions in major cities in Kharkiv and Lviv, local authorities say.
The youngest of the injured is 14 years old
Advisor to the President of Ukraine Mihailo Podoljak writes on Twitter that the aim of the Russian attacks is to “destroy critical infrastructure and kill civilians en masse”.
Ukraine has been able to shoot down a large part of the missiles with its anti-aircraft systems. In Kiev, all 16 missiles fired at the city were shot down, the authorities say. The damage was caused by pieces of missiles that fell down.
– I myself heard a few explosions of anti-aircraft missiles over the center of Kyiv before I moved to the subway station for shelter, ‘s reporter Fedorov says from the scene.
– The atmosphere in the metro is very calm, there are few people compared to the previous attacks. This is due to the fact that the air alert came early and those who live on the other side of the Dnieper river cannot take the metro to the city center.
Fedorov says the air raids were silenced a little before 11 o’clock.
Mayor of Kyiv Vitali Klytsko writes in Telegram that there have been several explosions in the capital, in which at least three people have been injured. One of them is a 14-year-old girl.
According to Klytško, in the morning two people were rescued from the residential building that was hit and taken to the hospital. Klytško warned the people of Kyiv about power outages and urged them to charge their phones and stock up on water.
In Lviv, the largest city in the western parts of Ukraine, 90 percent of the electricity has been cut off due to airstrikes, the mayor informs Andri Sadovyi.
The news is updated.
Sources: Reuters, AFP, AP, STT