Kyiv was hit by one other barrage of missile assaults hours after Russia carried out a second day of in a single day strikes on the capital and different targets together with an air base in western Ukraine.

“Solely six hours after the evening assault, the aggressor nation once more launched a missile assault on Kyiv,” mentioned Serhiy Popko, head of Kyiv’s navy administration, on Monday.

Popko mentioned the strikes have been supposed to “exhaust the sources of our air defence” as Kyiv ready to launch a counter-offensive to retake occupied japanese and southern areas, which account for 18 per cent of Ukraine’s territory. The assaults got here as a Russian official mentioned artillery strikes had hit a number of targets in a area bordering north-east Ukraine.

“The assault on Kyiv continues. Don’t depart the shelters!” Kyiv’s mayor Vitaliy Klitschko mentioned on social media. Rescue employees and hearth division companies have been at a number of scenes the place rocket fragments had landed, together with a highway in Kyiv’s northern Obolon district, he added. Floor-to-air defence missiles have been noticed intercepting incoming aerial projectiles over downtown Kyiv.

The extent of harm and variety of casualties from the newest barrages weren’t instantly clear. However Ukraine’s air pressure, more and more outfitted with Nato-grade air defence methods supplied by western backers, mentioned that it had downed 37 of 40 Russian missiles fired in a single day throughout the nation and 29 of 35 Iran-supplied “kamikaze” drones.

“We’re ready for an additional reinforcement from our companions of latest air defence methods,” mentioned Mykola Oleshchuk, commander of Ukraine’s air pressure.

Common Valeriy Zaluzhnyi, commander of Ukraine’s armed forces, mentioned Russia fired 11 missiles on Monday afternoon however “all targets have been destroyed by Ukraine’s air defence forces”. Earlier, officers in Khmelnytsky area west of Kyiv mentioned one strike hit an airbase, damaging 5 plane and a runway.

The assaults come a day after Ukraine’s air pressure mentioned it had intercepted 58 of 59 drones fired within the early hours of Sunday, together with 40 concentrating on the capital as Kyiv’s residents ready to have a good time town’s founding.

Russia’s defence ministry has in latest days mentioned its forces had struck a number of navy targets, however didn’t point out the strikes on Kyiv and different areas removed from the entrance traces. Such assaults have been a function of Russia’s air marketing campaign for the reason that autumn.

Ukraine, in the meantime, has carried out plenty of cross-border assaults in latest weeks concentrating on Russian infrastructure and elevating tensions about spillover results from the invasion launched by President Vladimir Putin 15 months in the past.

Viacheslav Gladkov, governor of Belgorod, on Monday mentioned Ukrainian artillery strikes knocked out the ability provide, broken two industrial websites and wounded 4 individuals.

The Belgorod area, about 50km from Ukraine’s second-biggest metropolis Kharkiv, has change into a focus for worries about Kyiv’s capability to strike inside Russian territory. Ukraine doesn’t admit to conducting such strikes however has celebrated them.

Gladkov, who voiced uncommon criticism of Russia’s defence ministry final week after two Ukraine-backed teams of far-right Russian partisans raided the area, mentioned the border had been insecure for a while.

“We live in a de facto state of struggle . . . It’s occurring. The enemy is intruding,” Gladkov mentioned, claiming that a minimum of 5 Ukraine-backed militias had carried out comparable raids earlier than final week.

Gladkov mentioned the easiest way to cease the shelling was for Russia to annex Kharkiv area — an unlikely prospect after Ukraine routed Russia’s military from the world in September.

Oleg Synegubov, governor of Kharkiv area, mentioned on social media that Russian forces had on Monday struck a village known as Kivsharivka with Iskander missiles, injuring 5 individuals.

Extra reporting by Christopher Miller in Kyiv