Ukraine comes under major Russian missile attacks

KIEV/MOSCOW, Dec. 29 (Xinhua) -- Ukraine on Thursday came under major missile attacks carried out by Russian forces from strategic aircraft and ships, the Air Force Command of the Ukrainian Armed Forces has said.

The strikes followed overnight attacks with kamikaze drones across Ukraine, the Ukrainian Air Force Command said in a statement on Facebook.

Ukrainian Presidential Advisor Mykhailo Podolyak said that more than 120 missiles were launched against Ukraine on Thursday morning.

Media reports said air raid sirens rang out across the country and in Kiev sounded for five hours.

In Kiev, at least two people were injured as a result of the impact on a private house in the southeastern Darnytskyi district, Mayor Vitali Klitschko said.

At least four S-300 missiles hit critical infrastructure facilities in the city of Kharkiv in the east of Ukraine, Kharkiv regional governor Oleg Sinegubov said.

Local authorities also reported explosions in the Lviv region in the west of Ukraine, and in the Poltava region in the central part of the country.

In the southern Odesa region, fragments of a cruise missile fell on a residential building, Kyrylo Tymoshenko, deputy head of the Ukrainian president's office, said on Telegram.

Citing Ukrainian media outlets, the Russian Defense Ministry's Zvezda broadcaster reported that explosions were heard in Kiev on Thursday morning.

Eyewitnesses reported strong blasts in the northwest of the Ukrainian capital and its outskirts, and according to some people in Kiev, glass was shaking in apartment buildings, it said.

No more information is available at the moment from the Russian side.