Russia has launched another barrage of hypersonic and cruise missiles against Ukrainian targets, striking near the front lines in the east as well as in central and western parts of the country, officials said.
At least four civilians were reported killed and at least 30 injured in the barrage on Monday morning.
Western officials and analysts had previously warned that Russia was stockpiling its cruise missiles in preparation for a strategy of winter bombardment, as bad weather keeps the 930-mile front line largely static after 22 months of war.
Our warriors have proven that Ukrainians, with their extraordinary strength, can guide history in the right direction. Without people like our heroes and without the bravery of the Ukrainian people, Ukraine would not have stood firm. pic.twitter.com/Xm1qK2YZUM
— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) January 8, 2024
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Unlike last winter, when the Kremlin’s forces targeted Ukraine’s power grid, Russia is now aiming at Kyiv’s defence industry, they say. But the barrages have repeatedly hit civilian areas.
Monday’s attacks struck a string of urban areas, including housing and a shopping mall, across Ukraine.
In the south-eastern Dnipropetrovsk region, a woman died in a missile attack outside the city of Kryvyi Rih and 24 people were injured in a strike on the town of Novomoskovsk.
In Kryvyi Rih itself, which is Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky’s home town, more than 20 houses and a shopping mall were damaged in the attack, said regional governor Serhii Lysak.
At least four missiles hit Kharkiv, the country’s second-largest city, injuring one person, said mayor Ihor Terekhov.
A woman rescued from the rubble of a building later died, regional governor Oleh Syniehubov said. More people may be trapped, he said.
Authorities in the Khmelnytskyi region said two people died as at least six explosions were heard during the morning missile attack.
Meanwhile, Russian troops conducted 131 artillery attacks on the Kherson region, killing two people and injuring five, according to governor Oleksandr Prokudin.
Kherson and the surrounding region have been consistently targeted since Russian forces withdrew from the city to the eastern side of the Dnipro in the autumn of 2022.
In Zaporizhzhia, a major southern city along the Dnipro River, two people were injured in a missile strike on a residential district, said regional governor Yurii Malashko.
Two people injured in an attack on January 2 died on Monday, officials said.
The Ukrainian military said Russian forces have made unsuccessful efforts to advance during the past day in several areas, including around Lyman in the Kharkiv region and in the Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia regions.
In the Russia-occupied Luhansk region in Ukraine’s east, a Russian warplane accidentally released a bomb on the town of Rubizhne, said Leonid Pasechnik, head of the region’s rebel government.
The bomb, an FAB-250 that carries a high-explosive warhead, did not cause injuries.
The incident comes six days after Russia accidentally dropped munitions over the village of Petropavlovka in the Belgorod region that has come under repeated Ukrainian attack.
