5 killed in Russian missile strike in Ukraine

Russia unleashed massive rocket fire across Ukraine early Thursday targeting energy infrastructure, hitting residential buildings and killing at least five people, officials said.

Maksym Kozytskyi, the governor of the western Lviv region, said four people were killed there after the rocket hit a residential area, adding that three buildings were destroyed by fire after the strike and rescue workers were combing through the rubble for other possible victims. Governor Serhii Lysak said a fifth person was killed and two others wounded in multiple attacks in the Dnipropetrovsk region that targeted energy infrastructure and industrial facilities.

Air raid sirens wailed overnight across Ukraine, including in the capital Kyiv, where explosions occurred in two western areas of the city. The Ukrainian capital of Kiev was enveloped by the sounds of air raid sirens that echoed throughout the city. Air defense systems were activated in several regions of the country. Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said explosions were reported in the city's Holosiivskyi district and two people were injured in Svyatoshynskyi district. The alarm in Kyiv was canceled just before eight o'clock in the morning, and the air raid sirens died down after about seven hours.

The rocket fire struck as Russia pressed its advance on Ukraine's eastern bastion of Bakhmut, where six months of crushing fighting between the two sides has turned the city into a smoldering wasteland. It was the first such missile attack in three weeks. The attack came hours after UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres visited Kyiv to negotiate with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to extend an agreement that allows the country to ship grain from its Black Sea ports and allows Russia to export food and fertilizer. 15 rockets hit Kharkiv in eastern Ukraine and a remote northeastern region, hitting residential buildings, Governor Oleh Syniehubov said.

Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov said on Telegram that there were "electricity problems" in some parts of the city. Odesa Governor Maksym Marchenko also informed about the strikes in the region. Marchenko said power plants and residential buildings had been hit and asked people to stay in shelters. The last massive barrage took place on February 16.