According to local sources, three persons were killed when Russian long-range cruise missile struck a space rocket complex and a neighboring street in the central Ukrainian city of Dnipro.
About fifteen individuals were hurt, and surrounding residential structures were damaged.
The Dnipro facility Yuzhmash also manufactures satellites, one of which was launched into orbit by Elon Musk’s SpaceX.
According to a regional official, two more people were killed when dozens of Russian missiles were fired at Nikopol, south of Dnipro.
And in the north, overnight, Russian rockets struck residential areas in Chuhuiv, a town near Kharkiv, killing three people, according to the governor of Kharkiv.
The BBC’s Joe Inwood in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv reports that although Russia’s ground offensive in the east has halted, the number of air attacks has increased, frequently targeting city centers.
He adds that air raid sirens blasted across the entirety of Ukraine last night.
Following this morning’s attack in Dnipro, a horrific photograph depicted a man lying face down with his head covered in blood. He was supposed to be a local bus driver whose shift had just ended.
Many Ukrainians have fled to Dnipro to escape the conflict in the Donbas, where Russia has focused its ground forces.
Sergei Shoigu, the Russian minister of defense, has instructed his forces to intensify their operations in Ukraine to prevent Ukrainian artillery and missile attacks on Russian-controlled territory. According to Russian media, he was speaking to the military in territories they control in Ukraine.
Borys Filatov, the mayor of Dnipro, advised citizens to evacuate the city in a Facebook post. “There is no room for women, children, or the old, and those who are able and willing to leave must do so,” he stated.
“They repeatedly blasted the airport with missiles, hit all the city’s outskirts, fired on the central bridge, and bombed the oil storage and service station, yet the inhabitants continued to disregard the air raid sirens,” he grumbled. “After the disasters of Kremenchuk and Vinnytsia, I sincerely hoped that at least one person would gain common sense.”
According to Ukrainian officials, a Russian cruise missile strike killed at least 23 people and injured scores in Vinnytsia on Thursday. The city is situated southwest of Kiev, even further from the battle line in Donbas than Dnipro.
According to the Ukrainian military, these missiles were launched from Black Sea submarines. They said that the missiles that struck Dnipro originated from planes flying above the Caspian Sea.
