4 killed, 38 hurt after Russia targets dozens of missiles against Ukraine provinces

Jan. 8 (UPI) -- Russia unleashed a wave of missiles and attack drones against provincial Ukrainian cities and villages early Monday killing four people and injuring at least 38.

The attacks targeted residential buildings and infrastructure in Kharkiv, Dnipropetrovsk and Zaporizhzhia regions in the east and Khmelnytsky in the west, where two people were killed after a rocket struck an apartment block, Ukraine National Police said Monday in a Facebook post.

Rocket strikes on private residences and infrastructure in the cities of Kryvyi Rig, Novomoskovsk and Nadia Kryvorizh village in Dnipropetrovsk province killed one person and injured 28 including four children were injured while in Kharkiv and Zmíiv one person was killed and five civilians were injured after houses and a regional vocational training facility were hit.

Dnipropetrovsk governor Serhii Lysak said in a social media post that the raid damaged a shopping mall, more than 20 houses, three administrative buildings, two gas stations, a five-story building and a van.

The city of Zaporizhzhia was also hit injuring five people after two apartment buildings and civilian infrastructure were damaged.

Police officers are working at the scenes of the strikes providing assistance to people and documenting and gathering evidence of possible war crimes, the agency said.

The Ukraine Air Force said that of the 59 missiles launched by Russian forces, air defenses shot down 18 cruise missiles and eight Iranian-made drones.

Monday's attacks come amid a spate of Russian aerial strikes against civilian and infrastructure targets that began 10 days ago when Ukraine came under "massive" bombardment from hundreds of Russian missiles, attack drones and artillery fire overnight, killing at least 50 people and injuring more than 160.

Authorities said the Dec. 29 attack the biggest aerial assault of 2023.

On Jan 2, at least six people were killed and more than 130 were injured in and around Kyiv and Kharkiv after major aerial bombardment overnight by Russian forces for the third day in a row.