Russian bombardment of Ukraine's two largest cities kills 5, officials say

Ukraine's two largest cities came under attack early Tuesday from Russian missiles that killed five people and injured as many as 130, officials said, as the war approached its two-year mark and the Kremlin stepped up its winter bombardment of urban areas.

Russia launched 100 missiles of various types, including 10 Kinzhal missiles that can fly at 10 times the speed of sound, said Gen. Valerii Zaluzhnyi, Ukraine's commander-in-chief. Ukrainian air defences shot down all 10 of the Kinzhal missiles, he said.

But other missiles got through in Kyiv and in Kharkiv, the provincial capital of the northeastern region. In Kyiv and the surrounding region, four people were killed and about 70 were wounded, while in the Kharkiv region, one person was killed and about 60 were hurt, the Interior Ministry said.

The Kh-47M2 Kinzhal is an air-launched ballistic missile that is rarely used by Russian forces due to its cost and limited stocks. The barrage fired Tuesday was the highest number used in one attack since the start of the war, Ukraine air force spokesperson Yurii Ihnat said.

The latest round of attacks by Russia began Friday with its largest single assault on Ukraine of the war, as fighting along the 1,000-kilometre front line has subsided into grinding attrition amid winter. At least 41 civilians have been killed since the weekend.

At a nine-storey Kyiv apartment building where two people were killed, 48-year-old Inna Luhina was getting ready for work when a blast shattered her windows and she and other family members, including her 80-year-old mother, were struck by flying glass.

More than 100 survivors gathered at a school set up as a temporary shelter.

Iryna Dzyhil, a 55-year-old resident of the same building, said the explosion threw her and her husband from their chairs, and a subsequent fire trapped them on the top floor until emergency crews rescued them via the roof.

"They say they're hitting military targets, but they're hitting people, killing our children and our loved ones," Dzyhil said of the Russians.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on X, formerly Twitter, that at least 70 of the 100 Russian missiles were shot down, almost all of them in the Kyiv area. He noted that Western-supplied air defence systems, such as Patriots and NASAMS, had saved hundreds of lives.

Russia's Defence Ministry said it had launched missile and drone strikes on military industrial facilities in and around Kyiv, as well as depots storing missiles and munitions supplied by the West.

"The goal of the strike has been achieved, all the targets have been hit," it said without elaborating.

It was not possible to independently verify either side's claims.

In his nightly address, Zelenskyy said that since Friday, Russia has used almost 300 missiles and more than 200 Shahed drones against Ukraine.