Russia's military has hurled a barrage of missiles against Ukrainian cities, including the capital Kyiv, striking civilian targets in what could be Moscow's retaliation for the bombing of a key bridge connecting Russia to its annexed territory of Crimea.
At least eight civilians have been killed and 24 wounded.
Amid the onslaught, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on his Telegram account that Russia is "trying to destroy us and wipe us off the face of the earth".
"Please do not leave (bomb) shelters," he wrote. "Let's hold on and be strong."
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Ukrainian officials said Russia fired 75 missiles in the Monday morning attack.
They claimed just over half had been shot down by the country's air defence systems.
The attacks came just hours after Russian President Vladimir Putin called a Saturday explosion on the huge bridge connecting Russia to its annexed territory of Crimea a "terrorist act" masterminded by Ukrainian special services.
The first strikes on Kyiv in four months targeted the centre of the city and left dead and wounded, an Emergency Service spokesperson told the AP early on Monday (Monday night AEDT).
Blasts were reported in the city's Shevchenko district, a large area in the centre of Kyiv that includes the historic old town as well as several government offices, Mayor Vitali Klitschko said.
Lesia Vasylenko, a member of Ukraine's parliament, posted a photo on Twitter showing that at least one explosion occurred near the main building of the Kyiv National University in central Kyiv.
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After the first early morning strikes in Kyiv, more loud explosions were heard later in the morning in an intensification of Russia's attack that could spell a major escalation in the war.
The spokesperson for Emergency Service in Kyiv told the AP that there are killed and wounded people. Rescuers are now working in different locations, said Svitlana Vodolaga.
The last previous attack on Kyiv was in June. One of the missiles struck an apartment building, killing one and wounding six. But unlike previous attacks that mostly hit Kyiv's outskirts, Monday's strike targeted several locations in the very centre of the city.
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Elsewhere, Russia targeted civilian areas and energy infrastructure as air raid sirens sounded in every region of Ukraine, except Russia-annexed Crimea, for four straight hours.
Associated Press journalists in the centre of Dnipro city saw the bodies of multiple people killed at an industrial site on the city's outskirts. Windows in the area had been blown out and glass littered the street.
Ukrainian media reported explosions in a number of other locations, including the western city of Lviv that has been a refuge for many people fleeing the fighting in the east, as well as Ternopil, Khmelnytskyi, Zhytomyr and Kropyvnytskyi.
Kharkiv was hit three times, Mayor Ihor Terekhov said. The strikes knocked out the electricity and water supply. Energy infrastructure was also hit in Lviv, Regional Governor Maksym Kozytskyi said.
Recent fighting has focused on the regions just north of Crimea, including Zaporizhzhia, where six missiles were launched overnight Saturday from Russian-occupied areas of the Zaporizhzhia region.
READ MORE: Putin blames Ukrainian 'terrorist act' for attack on Crimea bridge
The strikes on Kyiv and other cities came a few hours before Russian President Vladimir Putin was due to hold a meeting with his security council, a day after he called the attack on the Kerch Bridge to Crimea a terrorist act carried out by Ukrainian special services.
In a meeting Sunday with the chairman of Russia's Investigative Committee, Putin said "there's no doubt it was a terrorist act directed at the destruction of critically important civilian infrastructure".
The Kerch Bridge is important to Russia strategically, as a military supply line to its forces in Ukraine, and symbolically, as an emblem of its claims on Crimea. No one has claimed responsibility for damaging the 19-kilometre-long bridge, the longest in Europe.
Following the strikes on Kyiv, several residents were seen on the streets with blood on their clothes and hands. A young man wearing a blue jacket sat on the ground as a medic wrapped a bandage around his head. A woman with bandages wrapped around her head had blood all over the front of her blouse. Several cars were also damaged or completely destroyed.
More to come…
