Russia hits targets north of Kyiv, Mykolaiv: Officials

A new wave of Russian air attacks has hit several locations in Ukraine, including key energy infrastructure in the north of the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, causing several explosions, officials have said, in the second day of raids by Moscow.

Kyrylo Tymoshenko, deputy head of the presidential office, said on Tuesday there had been three Russian strikes on an unspecified energy facility. Kyiv’s mayor said the attack was on “critical infrastructure” and emergency workers were heading there.

“The city is still under air alert right now,” said Al Jazeera’s Mohammed Jamjoom, reporting from Kyiv. “There was one that went off this morning at 5am here in Kyiv, then it deactivated and another one started an hour and a half later,” he said.

Attacks were also reported in the northern city of Zhytomyr which was left without water and electricity supplies, its mayor Serhiy Sukhomlyn wrote on Facebook.

Russian forces “continue to do what they do best – terrorise and kill civilians”, said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Tuesday. He also said one person had been killed in a missile attack on a residential building in the southern city of Mykolaiv but gave no other details of casualties.

“Ukraine is under fire by the occupiers,” he wrote on the Telegram messaging app.

“The terrorist state will not change anything for itself with such actions. It will only confirm its destructive and murderous essence, for which it will certainly be held to account.”

The wave of attacks comes a day after at least four people, including a couple expecting a baby, were killed after a drone hit a residential building in Kyiv. Hundreds of towns and villages were cut off from power following the strikes.

Monday’s attacks came exactly a week after multiple Ukrainian cities were hit with Russian missiles and drones in apparent revenge for the bombing of a key bridge connecting Crimea to mainland Russia. Moscow has blamed Ukraine for the bombing that damaged the Kerch bridge – a key supply route for Russian forces fighting in Ukraine.