Russian missiles struck three Ukrainian cities Tuesday, including its two biggest, killing at least six people and wrecking apartment buildings after Moscow shunned any deal backed by Kyiv and its Western allies to end the nearly 2-year-old war.
The barrage included more than 40 ballistic, cruise, anti-aircraft and guided missiles, officials said. Ukraine’s air force said it intercepted 21 of them.
The attacks keep Ukrainians on edge while the 930-mile front line has barely budged. Both sides’ inability to deliver major gains on the battlefield has pushed the fighting toward trench and artillery warfare. Analysts say Russia stockpiled missiles at the end of last year to press a winter campaign of aerial bombardment.
In Kharkiv, in northeast Ukraine, the onslaught killed five and injured 48, including four minors, as the missiles damaged around 30 residential buildings and shattered hundreds of apartment windows in icy weather, regional Gov. Oleh Syniehubov said.
Russia used S-300, Kh-32 and hypersonic Iskander missiles in the attack, he said.
An entire section of a multistory residential building was destroyed, trapping an unknown number of people there, Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov said. The temperature in the city was minus 7 degrees Celsius (19 degrees Fahrenheit), he said.
Kharkiv, about 30 kilometers (18 miles) from the border with Russia, has often felt the brunt of Russia’s winter campaign of long-range strikes that commonly hit civilian areas.
The attack injured at least 20 people in four districts of Kyiv, the capital, including a 13-year-old boy, according to Mayor Vitalii Klitschko. Officials corrected initial reports that a civilian had been killed there, saying the wounded person was hospitalized on life support.