Burning cars at the site of a missile attack in Kyiv on 8 July, 2024. Photo: Anatolii Stepanov / AFP
At least 20 people have been killed after Russia launched a massive missile attack against cities across Ukraine, according to officials.
In the capital, Kyiv, at least seven people were killed in a rare daytime attack. The city's mayor said a children's hospital was hit by the missile strike and was being evacuated.
The head of the military administration in the central Ukrainian city of Kryvyi Rih said at least 10 people had been killed there, with three more killed in the eastern town of Pokrovsk.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who is visiting Poland, said that Russia had fired some 40 missiles at targets across the country.
"Different cities: Kyiv, Dnipro, Kryvyi Rih, Sloviansk, Kramatorsk. More than 40 missiles of various types. Residential buildings, infrastructure and a children's hospital were damaged," Zelensky said.
Plumes of smoke could be seen across the capital Kyiv, while video posted on social media showed the destruction inside and outside of the Okhmadyt children's hospital.
Zelensky said in a social media post that people were trapped under the rubble of the hospital.
"Right now, everyone is helping to clear the rubble - doctors and ordinary people," the president wrote.
Health Minister Viktor Lyashko said cancer and intensive care wards had been hit in the blast.
Vitaliy Klitschko, Kyiv's mayor, told the Reuters news agency from the hospital that the bombardment was "one of the the worst attacks" on the capital since the start of the war.
Elsewhere, Oleksandr Vilkul, head of the military administration in Kryvy Rih, posted on the Telegram messaging app that at least 10 people were killed and 31 wounded following the attack on the city. Of those, he said 10 were seriously injured.
Kryvy Rih is Zelensky's home town and has been repeatedly attacked by Russia since it launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
The Russian bombardment comes as Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived in Moscow for a two-day state visit to Russia where he is due to hold talks with President Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin.
- BBC