Zelensky says Russia ‘trying to wipe us off face of the earth’ after air strikes on multiple cities

A Ukrainian ministry adviser has said at least eight people have been killed and 24 injured in Kyiv following strikes

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky has accused Russia of trying to wipe his country “off the face of the earth” after multiple cities, including Kyiv, were hit with fresh strikes.

Reporters in Kyiv said a series of blasts in the city’s centre during the morning rush hour appeared to result from missile strikes. Five other cities, most in Ukraine’s west where the conflict has seldom reached, were attacked, according to Ukrainian officials.

“They are trying to destroy us and wipe us off the face of the earth...destroy our people who are sleeping at home in (the city of) Zaporizhzhia. Kill people who go to work in Dnipro and Kyiv,” Mr Zelensky said on the Telegram messaging app.

“The air raid sirens do not subside throughout Ukraine. There are missiles hitting. Unfortunately, there are dead and wounded.”

Volodymyr Zelensky said people had been killed and wounded in the blasts and accused Russia of trying to wipe his country “off the face of the earth.

A Ukrainian ministry adviser has said at least eight people have been killed and 24 injured in a Russian strike on Kyiv while the country’s military chief said 45 missiles have been fired so far this morning’s wave of attacks.

General Valerii Zaluzhnyi tweets that 41 of these were neutralised by air defences.

The slew of strikes follows a damaging blow to Russia over the weekend, when the Kerch Bridge, a vital supply line to troops fighting in Ukraine’s south, was damaged in a blast. Vladimir Putin called the incident an “act of terrorism” by Ukraine.

An injured man receives medical treatment at the scene of Russian shelling, in Kyiv (Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)

Ukrainian foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba added that the missile strikes across Ukraine on Monday showed Mr Putin “is a terrorist who talks with missiles.”

“Multiple Russian missile strikes across Ukraine. Putin’s only tactic is terror on peaceful Ukrainian cities, but he will not break Ukraine down. This is also his response to all appeasers who want to talk with him about peace: Putin is a terrorist who talks with missiles,” Mr Kuleba wrote on Twitter.

Emergency service personnel attend to the site of a blast (Getty Images)

Missiles tore into Kyiv, the most intense strikes on the capital since Russia abandoned an attempt to captured it in the early weeks of the war. Explosions were also reported in Lviv, Ternopil and Zhytomyr in Ukraine’s west, Dnipro and Kremenchuk in central Ukraine, Zaporizhzhia in the south and Kharkiv in the east. A witness in Russia’s Belgorod region near the Ukrainian border also heard a blast from the border area.

Police inspect the scene of Russian shelling in Kyiv, Ukraine (Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)

“The capital is under attack from Russian terrorists! The missiles hit objects in the city centre (in the Shevchenkivskyi district) and in the Solomyanskyi district. The air raids sirens are going off, and therefore the threat, continues,” mayor Vitali Klitschko posted on social media.

“The central streets of Kyiv have been blocked by law enforcement officers, rescue services are working.”

He later said important infrastructure had been hit.

An injured woman reacts after Russian shelling in Kyiv (Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)

Andriy Sadovyi, the mayor of Lviv, said this morning’s attacks caused power cuts in the city, also limiting hot water availability in the region.

“Update on missile attacks: An explosion was recorded at a critical infrastructure facility in Lviv. Relevant services went to the place,” Mr Sadovyi wrote on Twitter.

Mr Zelensky claimed Russia targeted key energy infrastructure in the strikes across the country. Energy facilities in Kyiv, Lviv, Dnipro, Vinnytsia, Zaporizhzhia, Kharkiv, and other regions have been hit, he said in a Telegram post.

“They want panic and chaos, they want to destroy our energy system. They are hopeless,” he said. The second target is people, he added.

A rescuer works at a site of a residential building heavily damaged by a Russian missile strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Zaporizhzhia (REUTERS)

“Such a time and such targets were specially chosen to cause as much damage as possible,” he said, while calling for people to stay in bomb shelters.

The strikes came two days after an explosion damaged the only bridge over the Kerch Strait to the Crimea peninsula, which Mr Putin on Sunday called “an act of terrorism aimed at destroying critically important civilian infrastructure”.

“This was devised, carried out and ordered by the Ukrainian special services,” he said in a video on the Kremlin's Telegram channel.

Ukraine has not claimed responsibility for the blast on the bridge but has celebrated it. Senior Russian officials demanded a swift response from the Kremlin ahead of a meeting of Mr Putin's security council on Monday.