At least 6 killed in overnight Russian missile strikes across Ukraine

By Seda Sevencan

ISTANBUL (AA) - At least six people, including a child, were killed by Russian missiles that struck multiple cities across Ukraine early on Friday, according to officials in the country.

Overnight strikes hit an apartment and warehouse building in the central city of Uman, about 190 kilometers (118 miles) south of the capital Kyiv, killing four people, Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said on Facebook.

"Four killed. Three people were pulled from the rubble. Another person died in hospital. Seventeen injured," Klymenko said following an earlier announcement by regional military administration chief Ihor Taburets, who said a rescue operation was ongoing in the city.

The injured are currently receiving medical assistance, said Klymenko, who added: "Three children were saved."

In the city of Dnipro, a woman and a three-year-old toddler were killed in the most recent strikes on the city, Mayor Borys Filatov said, adding that "high-precision weapons" had been used.

"'High-precision weapons' ... once again killed civilians in Dnipro," Filatov said on Facebook.

The country's air defense forces had shot down 11 Russian missiles and two unmanned aerial vehicles en route to Kyiv on Friday night, according to Serhiy Popko, head of the Kyiv City Military Administration.

Russia also launched missiles from the Caspian Sea region early on Friday, Ukrainian officials said.

Commander-in-Chief Valeriy Zaluzhnyi said on Telegram that 21 out of 23 cruise missiles and two operational-tactical UAVs, "were destroyed by the anti-aircraft missile units of Ukraine's Air Forces in cooperation with the air defense systems of other elements of our Defense Forces."

The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said that in the past 24 hours, the army had successfully repelled 65 attacks launched by Russia on the Bakhmut, Avdiivka, and Maryinka areas.

In a statement, the army said Russia had launched eight missile and 31 air strikes, as well as 56 rounds from multiple rocket launchers, on Ukrainian military and civilian positions and

"Civilians suffered, private residential buildings and other civilian infrastructure were destroyed and damaged," the army said, adding that all of these were "repelled by units of the defense force."