Russian forces launched yet another mass missile attack against Ukraine on Tuesday morning with explosions reported in cities across the country, including Kyiv.
Currently, six people are known to have died in Kharkiv and one person in Pavlograd. More than 70 are known to have been injured across the country.
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In the capital, Kyiv Post reporters were woken by an air raid alert shortly before 6am, then a series of at least ten explosions in quick succession at around 7:20am.
According to preliminary reports from Mayor Vitali Klitschko, a “non-residential building” was on fire in the Pechershk district and a fire broke out in “several apartments” in the Solomyan district.
Several cars were also ablaze next to a kindergarten in the Svyatoshynskyi district.
Klitschko also said an unexploded warhead had been found in an apartment and an evacuation of the building had been undertaken.
It is not currently known if any of the damage was caused by direct missile hits or debris from the work of air defenses.
Early reports said one woman had been killed in Kyiv but Klitcshko later reported she was alive but in hospital. Twenty-two people were injured including a 13-year-old boy.
The all clear was given in Kyiv around 8:15am.
Ukraine's army chief Valery Zaluzhny said on social media that Russian forces had fired 41 missiles, including cruise and ballistic missiles, and that his forces had downed 21.
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Kharkiv also came under attack. Rescue workers in Ukraine's second-largest city that is near Russia's border, hauled wounded residents from the scene of an attack where smoke rose from smouldering piles of rubble, AFP journalists on the scene in the aftermath reported.
The regional governor said five residents were killed in the overnight barrage and another 51 had been wounded, as medical workers treated one wounded man with blood smeared across his face.
Denise Brown, the UN's humanitarian coordinator for Ukraine, called the attacks "brutal and indiscriminate."
She added: "The attacks caused damage to civilian buildings just next to the United Nations office in Kyiv. Homes were damaged and civilians – those I just mentioned who were only trying to continue with their lives despite the war – are now hospitalized.
"These strikes are yet another bitter reminder of the devastation, suffering and distress that Russia’s invasion is causing for millions of people in Ukraine.
"Brutal and indiscriminate attacks against civilians must stop."
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