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25-03-2024
KYIV/ MOSCOW: Multiple explosions have hit Kyiv and the whole of Ukraine has been placed on alert as Russia launched a wave of air strikes.
The region of Lviv bordering Poland was also targeted and one of the cruise missiles entered Polish airspace, the country’s armed forces said.
The attacks started in the capital at 05:00 (03:00 GMT).
The Ukrainian military said its air defence systems were engaged in repelling the attack.
Serhiy Popko, head of Kyiv’s military administration, said about a dozen Russian missiles had been destroyed over the capital and its vicinity.
There have been no reports of casualties or major damage as a result of the attacks, he added in a statement on Telegram.
Andriy Sadovyi, Lviv’s mayor, said on Telegram that the city itself had not been hit. However, around 20 missiles and seven attack drones had been launched against the broader Lviv region, targeting “critical infrastructure”.
Ukraine was earlier placed under nationwide alert that warned of cruise missiles being launched from Russian strategic bombers.
Meanwhile, Poland said its airspace had been violated by one of the cruise missiles launched by Russia.
“The object entered Polish space near the town of Oserdow and stayed there for 39 seconds. During the entire flight, it was observed by military radar systems,” the armed forces said in a statement.
Residents in the Ukrainian capital have been pictured taking shelter in metro stations.
It comes after Russia fired dozens of missiles on Friday, hitting a dam and leaving a million Ukrainians without power.
Moscow has not yet commented on Sunday’s strikes.
The Russian-installed governor of the port of Sevastopol, in annexed Crimea, said Russian forces had shot down 10 Ukrainian missiles over the city late on Saturday.
An office building and a gas line were destroyed and a woman suffered a shrapnel injury, Mikhail Razvozhayev said on Telegram.
A million people are without power across Ukraine after Russian missiles targeted energy infrastructure.
There is no electricity in the second-largest city of Kharkiv, the regional head says, and more than 53,000 households in Odesa are without power.
Ukraine’s energy minister, German Galushchenko, accused Russia of trying to provoke “a large-scale failure of the country’s energy system”.
Russia said it was revenge for recent Ukrainian attacks on Russian territory. (Int’l Monitoring Desk)
