Russia launched a large missile barrage on cities across Ukraine early on Thursday, hitting some residential structures as well as energy infrastructure installations, according to Ukrainian officials and media.
Throughout the course of at least five hours in the early morning, air raid sirens blasted throughout Ukraine, including in Kyiv, the country's capital. This kind of missile attack hadn't occurred in three weeks. According to Ukrainian media, air defense systems were turned on throughout the country.
Oleh Syniehubov, the governor of Kharkiv, reported that residential buildings were hit in 15 strikes in the city and the surrounding northeastern area. He pledged to provide further information regarding the severity of the damage or any fatalities in the second-largest city in Ukraine.
The occupiers are once more targeting pieces of vital infrastructure, he wrote in a Telegram message. Maksym Marchenko, the governor of the southern Odesa region, also confirmed strikes on Odesa, claiming that residential structures and energy installations were both targeted.
I urge the locals to remain in shelters as the second wave is now anticipated! Marchenko claimed in a Telegram message that a "massive missile attack" had hit the area.
During the night, air raid sirens wailed throughout Kyiv, and at least one powerful explosion startled city dwellers out of their beds. If anything was hit, it wasn't immediately clear what it was.
Additional explosions were recorded in Chernihiv, a city in the north, the Lviv area, in the west, as well as in Dnipro, Lutsk, and Rivne.
Since late October, Russia has been bombarding Ukraine with these powerful missile strikes. The assaults on the nation's energy infrastructure began as weekly barrages that left the entire cities in the dark, but over time they expanded out as observers suspected Russia may be stockpiling ammo.
On February 16, there was one final fierce bombardment.
