Russia launched a new barrage of missiles at Ukraine on Friday and air defence systems went into operation across the country, Ukrainian officials said.
Electricity was knocked out in Kharkiv, the second biggest city of more than a million people, while the smaller city of Poltava in central Ukraine was also without power, officials said.
Missiles also hit critical infrastructure in the Black Sea region of Odesa in the south, and caused explosions in the capital Kyiv.
Russia was «massively attacking», said Oleksiy Kuleba, governor of the Kyiv region, as the latest in a series of attacks on infrastructure across Ukraine since October unfolded.
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko reported explosions in at least four districts, urging residents to go to shelters.
As air raid alarms sounded across Ukraine, as many as 60 Russian missiles had been spotted heading for targets, said Vitaly Kim, governor of the Mykolaiv region in southern Ukraine.
In Kryvyi Rih, also in the south, a residential building was hit, leading to fears that people could be trapped in the rubble. Ukrainian media quote the Dnipro regional governor as saying that at least two people had been killed and five injured.
Several railway lines were left without power, Ukraine’s railway operator said.
«Do not ignore air raid alerts, remain in shelters,» Kyrylo Tymoshenko, deputy head of the president’s office said on the Telegram messaging app.
Russia has carried out several waves of attacks on Ukrainian energy infrastructure since October, causing power outages across the country.
The governor of the northern region of Sumy said there were power outages in his region because of Friday’s missile strikes.