Extract from ABC News
Several Ukrainian cities have been pounded with shelling as Russian President Vladimir Putin promises to avenge an attack on the city of Belgorod where 24 civilians were killed leading into New Year's Eve.
Key points:
- In the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, one person was killed and more than 40 were injured in missile strikes
- Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko said one person was dead and another 27 injured after attacks in the capital
- The multiple attacks come after Russian President Vladimir Putin said his forces would intensify strikes on Ukraine military targets
Russia rained missiles on the Ukrainian capital Kyiv and other cities on Tuesday, killing five and injuring at least 92 people, according to Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
He said Russia had launched about 170 Shahed attack drones and dozens of different missiles at Ukraine since December 31.
"Russia will answer for every life (that it has) taken away," Mr Zelenskyy wrote on Telegram.
Ukrainian air defences downed all 10 incoming "Kinzhal" missiles fired in this latest attack, army chief General Valeriy Zaluzhnyi said.
More than a dozen loud explosions were heard in Kyiv by AFP journalists as air defences worked, shaking buildings in the city centre.
In the eastern city of Kharkiv, one person was killed and 45 injured by "at least four strikes" which damaged multi-storey buildings and civilian infrastructure, the region's governor Oleg Sinegubov said.
Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko said an elderly woman died following the blast, and at least 43 people had been injured.
Emergency services said a body had also been recovered on the eighth floor of a damaged building in Kyiv.
Mr Klitschko said 10 people had been injured in a block of flats in the Solomiansky district "where a fire broke out as a result of a missile attack".
Fires also broke out in a supermarket and a warehouse, the mayor said.
In the city's northern Podil district, "the territory of a civilian infrastructure facility is believed to have been hit", Mr Klitschko said.
A married couple were killed and 11 people were also injured in the area outside Kyiv, the regional administration said.
Tuesday's attacks come a day after Russian President Vladimir Putin said his forces would intensify strikes on military targets after an unprecedented Ukrainian attack on the Russian city of Belgorod.
"They want to intimidate us and create uncertainty within our country. We will intensify strikes," Mr Putin said.
"Not a single crime against our civilian population will go unpunished."
One man was killed and seven people were injured in another Ukrainian attack on Belgorod on Tuesday night, the Defence Ministry and regional officials added.
Regional governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said the man was killed by a missile which landed next to his car, and four people were also injured at an auto market.
Officials said Russian air defences shot down 17 Ukrainian "air targets" including rockets fired from multiple missile launchers.
Ukraine's Zelenskyy says Russia suffering heavy losses
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russia is suffering heavy losses in its 22-month war against Ukraine and any suggestions Moscow is winning are not based on reality.
"Thousands, thousands of killed Russian soldiers, nobody even took them away," he said, referring to fighting around the besieged eastern town of Avdiivka.
He provided no evidence to back up his assertion in his interview with The Economist magazine published on Monday.
There was no response to a request for comment from Russian officials on Mr Zelenskyy's remarks.
Russian officials have said Western estimates of Russian death tolls are vastly exaggerated and almost always underestimate Ukrainian losses.
They have also called Ukraine's counteroffensive launched in mid-2023 a failure.
During the interview, Mr Zelenskyy acknowledged the counteroffensive may not have succeeded "as the world wanted. Maybe not everything is as fast as someone imagined."
Still, he hailed the "huge result" Ukrainian forces had when they broke through a Russian Black Sea blockade, enabling grain exports via a new route.
AFP/AP/Reuters
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