Russia slammed Ukraine with a double wave of missiles on Saturday, forcing civilians to dodge for cover mere hours after morning strikes pummeled critical infrastructure in Kyiv and the eastern city of Kharkiv.
The stepped-up assault came as the United Kingdom pledged to send tanks to Ukraine.
Ukraine authorities said its air defenses were trying to shoot down incoming missiles, but the country’s public broadcaster Suspilne reported explosions were still loudly heard in the central Vinnytsia region.
Russia, which invaded last February, has been pounding Ukraine’s energy infrastructure with missiles and drones since October, causing sweeping blackouts and disruptions to central heating and running water as winter chills the air.
The second attack Saturday occurred just hours after blasts were reported in Kyiv prior to air raid sirens sounding, which is highly unusual. The extent of any damage or casualties in the second wave was not yet clear.
No injuries were reported during the first wave, but missile debris caused fires and damaged apartment buildings and other homes outside the capital, officials said.
Residences were specifically hit hard in the village of Kopyliv, about 35 miles west of Kyiv. The windows and roofs of 18 privately owned houses were shattered or damaged by the blast, according to Oleksiy Kuleba, the regional governor. And in Dnipro, in south-central Ukraine, a missile slammed into a high-rise apartment building, killing at least five and wounding 27, including six children, according to a reporter at the scene.
The missile strikes caused power outages, and the BBC reported they also spurred emergency blackouts in at least 11 Ukraine regions to conserve power.
The strikes occurred after the UK agreed to send next-generation tanks to Kyiv following a call between Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Politico reported.
“The Prime Minister outlined the UK’s ambition to intensify our support to Ukraine, including through the provision of Challenger 2 tanks and additional artillery systems,” the UK government said in a statement Saturday.
Following Saturday’s strikes, Ukraine Minister of Foreign Affairs Dmytro Kuleba called on world leaders for more assistance.
“Each barrage of missiles further exhausts Russian stocks,” he tweeted. “However, they are still able to produce new ones. We can and must kill their missile and drone industry with a mass sanctions strike!
“I urge G7 and the [European Union] to implement relevant sanctions proposed by Ukraine without delay.”
Separately, Turkey on Saturday said it’s ready to push for ceasefires in Ukraine while warning that neither Moscow nor Kyiv had the military means to win the war, AFP reported.
Ibrahim Kalin, a foreign policy adviser to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, said it’s unlikely the warring sides would strike an “overarching peace deal” in the coming months. However, he added that the brutal cost of war might soon see them reconsider and accept truces in parts of some war zones.
“Turkey is willing to push for local ceasefires and small localized de-escalations,” Kalin told reporters.