At least four civilians were killed in fresh strikes by Russian forces with dozens of missiles early today in Ukraine, hitting residential areas and commercial areas, Ukrainian authorities said, as Moscow says it wants to step up its attacks. against its neighboring country.

Two people lost their lives in the western Khmelnytskyi region, according to local officials, where significant infrastructure was also affected.

In Kryvyi Rih, the birthplace of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, a 62-year-old woman died while a shopping center, several private homes and residential complexes were damaged by nine Russian missiles that hit the town, its mayor Oleksandr Vilkul said.

“The enemy fired dozens of missiles at cities and villages,” the deputy chief of staff of the Ukrainian presidency, Oleksiy Kuleba, said in a post on the Telegram messaging app, condemning a “massive” missile attack on Kriviy Rih and the region in which it is located, Dnipropetrovsk, in east-central part of Ukraine.

“The insane enemy has once again struck civilians,” the district’s governor, Serhii Lisak, also noted in a post on the Telegram messaging app. “Direct missiles at people”.

“Cruise missiles and Kinzhal (supersonic) missiles were used,” Ukrainian Prime Minister Denis Smykhal complained, expressing regret for the “casualties”.

In the city of Kharkiv, in eastern Ukraine, an industrial facility and an educational center were damaged after at least 4 missile strikes, according to the governor of the homonymous region Oleh Sinekhubov.

A 63-year-old woman he was killed there by a blow in a town south of Kharkiv, he noted.

Five people were also injured in the southeastern city of Zaporizhia, while residential areas were hit in the Zaporizhia region, according to its governor Yuriy Malashko.

“Not even a military target,” he wrote in a Telegram post.

The National Police of Ukraine also announced that a total of 38 people were injured across the country.

Russia announced today that it struck military-industrial targets in Ukraine by sea and air.

“This morning, a multiple attack was carried out with high-precision, long-range, air and sea weapons, including the hypersonic Kinzhal missile system, on facilities of the military-industrial system of Ukraine,” the Russian Defense Ministry said in its daily update.

Ukraine said its air defense systems shot down 18 of 51 missiles, a much lower number than usual, which Kiev attributed to the large number of ballistic missiles fired by Russia.

They are more difficult to intercept, Ukrainian Air Force spokesman Yuriy Ikhnat clarified in statements he made on Ukrainian television.

All 8 drones launched by Russia were also shot down, he noted.

The strikes came amid a cold wave sweeping Ukraine, while the mayor of Kriviy Rih also announced that 15,000 residents were without power and local tram and trolley lines were out of service.

Russia has resumed its campaign in recent weeks frequent air raids in Ukrainian population centers far behind the front lines of its full-scale invasion of Ukraine almost two years ago.