Putin's Armageddon attack causes Ukraine gas blast and 10 thunderous explosions
A blistering Armageddon attack by Vladimir Putin on Ukraine saw a gas pipeline explode in Kharkiv and residential buildings hit in Kyiv.
There were distressing reports of civilian casualties after Russia deployed its strategic missile aircraft to unleash missiles onto cities. A total of three dead and 13 wounded were reported across Ukraine, amid fears the numbers would rise. Nine were reported wounded in Kyiv where black smoke rose over the skyline with a residential building hit, and one was killed in a separate missile strike on Pavlohrad.
Kyiv was rocked by 10 thunderous explosions. Kharkiv faced at least seven explosions with power lost in a number of districts. A multi-storey residential building in Kharkiv was completely destroyed as a result of Russian missile fire. Two were reported killed, 13 wounded hospitalised including a girl, 10. Children were reported with shrapnel wounds. Two women were in serious condition.
Rescuers were removing the rubble, where people might be trapped, the local authorities reported. Explosions were also reported in the Sumy region, Dnepropetrovsk region and Zhitomyr.
In Kyiv’s Svyatoshinsky district, a building and cars were on fire, and there were claims of debris hitting a kindergarten. In Solomensky district, windows in an apartment building were smashed by a blast wave. One victim was hospitalised.
Russian model killed after calling Putin a 'psychopath' was strangled by her exIn Pechersky district, a non-residential building was hit. Emergency services were at the scene. At least eight were hospitalised in Kyiv. A Kh-101 missile was seen firing heat traps during a strike on Kyiv.
Kyiv mayor Vitalii Klitchko said: “An unexploded warhead of a rocket was found in one of the apartments in a residential building in Sviatoshynsky district. People are being evacuated from the house.”
The wave of strikes will be seen as Russian revenge for an attack on a market in the Tekstilshchiki district of Donetsk city on Sunday in which 27 were killed and at least 20 wounded. The deaths were blamed by Moscow on Ukrainian shelling of civilians.
Ukraine strongly denied responsibility and said Russia had hit the market in the Putin-controlled invaded territory. Ukraine has in recent days hit targets in Putin’s home city St Petersburg and the surrounding Leningrad region. Pro-Kremlin online media outlet Mash said Russia had staged “A large-scale attack on military-industrial complex facilities and the fuel infrastructure of Ukraine”.