An air raid alarm went off across Ukraine this morning, as Kiev officials warned of possible Russian missile attacks, urging residents to take cover.
"There is a strong threat of a missile attack. I want to reiterate that air warning sirens must not be ignored," said Serhiy Popko, head of the military administration of the Ukrainian capital.
For his part, even the presidential adviser, Anton Gerashchenko, spoke of the "threat of a massive Russian missile attack" and urged the population to remain in shelters.
Ukraine is poised to use UK-supplied long-range missiles to strike Russia-annexed Crimea in a potential escalation of Western involvement in the conflict, British newspaper The Times reports.
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has promised to send further military aid to Kiev after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's surprise visit to London this week, the newspaper recalled.
According to the Times, discussions are underway as to whether this aid should include Harpoon or Storm Shadow anti-ship missiles.
Ukrainian defense sources confirmed to the Times that Kiev would be ready to use missiles to strike Crimea after a warning from Zelensky that long-range weapons supplied by Western allies would strike "deep into the occupied territories," the newspaper said.
The city of Zaporizhzhia in southeastern Ukraine was hit 17 times in one hour last night, a Ukrainian official said, according to CNN.
The attacks targeted energy infrastructure, city council secretary Anatoliy Kurtiev wrote on Telegram.
"17 enemy attacks on the city were documented in just one hour, the highest number since the start of the large-scale invasion," the official said.
"Information on the extent of damage and casualties is being updated," he added.
Russian forces last night launched a missile attack against the city and region of Kharkiv: the governor of the region, Oleg Synyehubov, announced on Telegram, as reported by the Guardian.
“At 4 am, the enemy launched rocket attacks on Kharkiv city and the region with S-300 missiles. Critical facilities and infrastructure were targeted. Fires broke out, which rescuers managed to put out quickly. However, some areas of the city remain without electricity… Fortunately there are no victims,” wrote Synyehubov.
The head of the Novosibirsk region department of the Russian Emergencies Ministry, Viktor Orlov, said 13 people were killed in a gas explosion in Novosibirsk, adding that the toll could be considered final.
Tass writes it.
He added that some remains can only be identified with DNA testing.
The blast hit an apartment building in Novosibirsk at 7:43 am Thursday local time, causing two sections of the building to collapse and a fire engulfing the approximately 300 square meter area.
According to rescuers, the explosion was triggered by a gas leak.