Ukraine hit by Russian missile strikes with multiple people dead - BBC News

welcome it's been a traumatic and

terrifying night for many people across

Ukraine and for some it's been deadly at

4am local time the country was hit by a

wave of missiles fired by Russia at

several cities well this is the scene in

one town in central Ukraine after a

building was apparently hit by a missile

rescue operations are underway to search

for survivors this is uman and this was

the residential building where at 4am

like the strikes across the South and

the central parts of Ukraine

people people were killed and many were

injured now some missiles were shot down

by the Russian by the ukrainians around

21 Russian missiles were shot down and

this is all after a failed winter

offensive or a very uh unproductive

winter offensive from the Russian point

of view and ahead of an expected

offensive by the ukrainians in the east

of the country heavy military presence

there from both sides of course well

earlier I spoke to our correspondent in

Kiev Hugo bachega for the latest

so we just had an update from the

authorities in the city of uman they

said at least six people have been

killed uh in that City in the central

part of Ukraine uh this is a city where

we've seen those dramatic pictures of a

uh of a residential building that has

partially collapsed Apparently after

being hit by a missile and in the city

of nipro as you say two people were

killed a mother and her three-year-old

daughter uh their house was hit and

these attacks happened uh as people were

sleeping we heard the area alert here in

Kiev at around four o'clock in the

morning now here in the capital we

haven't heard reports of casualties but

the authorities are saying that 11

cruise missiles were shot down by the

country's air defense and it was the

first time the cave was attacked with

missiles in 51 days so a significant

development here this is obviously

happening as the ukrainians are expected

to launch an offensive to try to take

back territory that's now under

occupation and we just had a reaction

from president zielinski who again

accused rusher of terrorism he said

Russia attacked civilians at night and

obviously I think perhaps the fear is

that these attacks could be again the

new part of the Russian strategy as it

responds to the much anticipated

offensive to be launched by the

ukrainians Yeah Hugh guys you're talking

and describing that attack a new man

we've been watching pictures live

pictures from the scene of the debris

being cleared and bodies being taken

away from this site where the strike

happened last night as you say and so is

that what people in Ukraine believe that

this is part of a wider war effort now

that's changed gears

well it's just a little bit after nine

o'clock in the morning so this happened

overnight so I think people are still

trying to understand what exactly has

taken place I know that uh I think that

uh a number of cities across the country

will head in central and southern region

so it shows that uh Russia uh tried to

Target a number of different locations

across the country and again very

significant that uh 11 cruise missiles

were launched at Kiev uh also the air

defense system shot down two drones and

I think the authorities are saying that

in total 23 cruise missiles were

launched by Russia and that 21 were

intercepted by the country's defense

system so again a significant morning

here in Ukraine especially because Kiva

can came under attack

Hugo much anticipation about a

counter-offensive from the Ukrainian

forces perhaps in the coming weeks but

do you think an incident like this would

ever change Ukraine's plans or

accelerate them

well I mean to be absolutely honest I

think it doesn't make any difference the

ukrainians have been preparing for this

counter offensive for a very long time

they have been receiving you know the

weapons and all the help that has been

uh pledged and provided by a Western

countries uh and they say they've got a

plan uh and that they are waiting for

the conditions to be in place including

weathering conditions to improve to

launch this counter-offensive it is

expected that they are going to Target

uh places and locations in the south of

the country where Russian forces have

been for more than a year now and

obviously nearly a fifth of this country

remains under occupation and for a very

long time we've been talking about the

Battle for bakmud where much of the uh

the the war the effort has been

concentrated uh but I think in the next

few weeks we're going to perhaps see a

lot of military activity as the Russians

fortify their positions in anticipation

for this counter-offensive but also as

ukrainians a launch this operation uh

and and try to take back territory

that's been invaded

and these are live pictures from Central

Ukraine as Hugo was saying fears that

these types of attacks are part of a new

Russian strategy this this shot here

from Central Ukraine from the city of

Oman where four people were killed in

Russian strikes overnight another two

were killed a mother and her

three-year-old daughter in the western

city of nepro this building that you're

seeing here this residential building

was hit by a missile as a wide Arc of

attacks went took place overnight from

Kiev through Central and Southern

regions of Ukraine