Russia starts major attack against Ukrainian cities

Russian air attacks on major

Ukrainian cities such as Kyiv, Dnipro and Kharkiv killed at

least nine and wounded more than 60 early on Tuesday,

authorities said, following days of warnings that Moscow was planning a major assault.

Russia has targeted Ukraine's power supply and

infrastructure while Ukraine has stepped up attacks this year on Russian oil facilities in a war now more than four years old, sometimes causing casualties, but both deny targeting civilians.

Five people were killed and 25 injured in a Russian missile and drone attack on the southeastern city of Dnipro, regional governor Oleksandr Hanzha said on messaging app Telegram.

All the injured were in hospital in moderate condition, he added, posting pictures of destroyed residential buildings, burnt-out vehicles and a damaged children's playground.

At least four were killed and 51 injured, including

children, across the capital of Kyiv, Mayor Vitali Klitschko

said.

A suspected missile strike on a 24-storey apartment building triggered a collapse, leaving people probably trapped under the rubble, Klitschko said.

A nine-storey apartment block was among other buildings set ablaze by suspected missile debris, he added.

"In the Obolon district, cars are burning after being struck by falling missile debris," Klitschko said. "There are also

fires at two locations in open areas, including one near a kindergarten."

Thousands of residents flooded into the Kyiv subway system seeking shelter early on Tuesday, witnesses said, some carrying belongings and mattresses, as the sound of defence systems repelling Russian attacks filled the air.

Meanwhile, Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Monday that between January and May of this year, Ukraine struck 15 Russian oil refineries.

Speaking in his nightly video-address, Zelenskyy said that 'as of May, nearly 40% of Russia's primary oil refining capacity is offline."