At least three dead as Russia launches ‘large-scale missile attacks’ on ‘peaceful cities’ across Ukraine
Russia has launched a large-scale missile attack across Ukraine, with at least three people dead after residential and industrial buildings were hit, Ukrainian authorities said.
Two people were killed after a Russian missile hit critical infrastructure in the western Ukraine region of Khmelnytskyi, regional officials said.
At least six blasts have been reported there but officials gave no immediate details of damage.
Meanwhile a 62-year-old was killed outside the south central city of Kryvyi Rih where governor Serhiy Lysak said a shopping centre and more than two dozen private buildings were damaged in strikes.
“The mad enemy once again struck civilians,” Mr Lysak wrote on the Telegram messaging app. “Directed missiles at people.”
Oleksandr Vilkul, the mayor of Kryvyi Rih, reported that 15,000 residents were without power and that local trams and trolleybuses were not running.
“The enemy is viciously attacking peaceful cities,” Mr Vilkul said.
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Volunteers talk next to an apartment building damaged in the strikes on Zaporizhzhia
Mr Vilkul said full information about the extent of potential damages would be disclosed after the Russian attack was over.
All of Ukraine was under air raid alerts for more than three hours from around 6am local time (4am UK time) with Ukraine’s Air Force saying the country was under threat from several waves of cruise missiles.
The latest strikes come as a cold snap sweeps across Ukraine.
The targets of the Russian attack and the full scale of the strikes has not been immediately clear.
There was no immediate comment from Moscow.
People take shelter inside a metro station in Kyiv during an air raid alert today
Anatoliy Kurtiev, secretary of the southeastern Zaporizhzhia city council, said on Telegram that a missile attack on the city resulted in injuries, but he did not provide further details.
In the eastern city of Kharkiv, an industrial site and educational facility were damaged after at least four missile strikes, governor Oleh Syniehubov said.
At least one woman has been injured in the strikes on the city, mayor Ihor Terekhov said on the Telegram messaging app.
Meanwhile, four people were wounded in the southeastern city of Zaporizhzhia, where governor Yuriy Malashko reported five explosions and said residential areas had been hit.
“Missiles hit residential areas,” Mr Malaskho said on Telegram.
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From Sunday 7 January: Moments after Russian strike on Ukraine
Military officials in other cities, including Dnipro in central Ukraine, said they were under a “massive missile attack” by Russia.
The attack comes as the governor of the Belgorod region in Russia, around 19 miles from the border with Ukraine, said 300 people have been moved out of the city following repeated Ukrainian strikes.
The evacuations began over the weekend.
Nearly two years into the war that Russia started with a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, both sides have shifted to increased airstrikes, having struggled to make significant gains along the frontlines.
Russia has launched some of its largest attacks on Kyiv, as well as Ukraine’s second-largest city of Kharkiv.
Vladimir Putin with the families of soldiers killed in Ukraine
The latest strikes come after Russian President Vladimir Putin vowed to back soldiers who defend Russia’s interests, ordering his government to give greater support to those who fight.
He made the remarks after Russia launched drone and missile attacks on Ukraine over the weekend – with two people killed and several injured in the southern city of Kherson, while twelve people were injured in a strike on Dnipro.
Speaking on the eve of Orthodox Christmas, the Russian president said on Saturday while meeting families of soldiers killed in Ukraine: “Many of our men, our courageous, heroic guys, Russian warriors, even now, on this holiday, defend the interests of our country with arms in hand.”
Vladimir Putin has visited Kursk for the first time since his troops ejected Ukrainian forces from the Russian city.
The Russian president met with volunteer organisations and visited a nuclear power plant in the region on Tuesday, the Kremlin said.
Mr Putin said late last month that his forces had ejected Ukrainian troops from the Kursk region, which ended the largest incursion into Russian territory since the Second World War.
Vladimir Putin during his visit in the Kursk region on Tuesday. Pic: Kremlin News/Telegram
Mr Putin visited a nuclear power plant. Pic: Kremlin.ru/Reuters
Ukraine launched its attack in August last year, using swarms of drones and heavy Western weaponry to smash through the Russian border, controlling nearly 540sq m (5,813sq ft) of Kursk at the height of the incursion.
More than 159 Ukrainian drones were shot down over Russian territory, Russia’s defence ministry said on Wednesday.
The majority were over Russia’s western regions, but at least six drones were shot down over the densely populated Moscow region, the ministry added.
The visit in the Kursk region comes as a Russian missile attack killed six soldiers and injured 10 more during training in the Sumy region of Ukraine, according to the country’s national guard.
The commander of the unit has been suspended and an internal investigation has been launched.
The Russian president met with volunteer organisations. Pic: Kremlin News/Telegram
Russia’s defence ministry claimed the attack on the training camp in northeastern Ukraine killed up to 70 Ukrainian servicemen, including 20 instructors.
The attack comes after US President Donald Trump spoke to both Mr Putin and Volodymyr Zelenskyy, urging them to restart ceasefire talks.
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But German defence minister Boris Pistorius said on Wednesday that Mr Trump misjudged his influence on Mr Putin after the call between the American and Russian leaders yielded no progress in Ukraine peace talks.
Europe has since announced new sanctions on Russia over the war in Ukraine. Mr Pistorius said it remained to be seen whether the US would join those measures.
Three people have died after severe thunderstorms caused flooding in the Var region of southeastern France, according to reports.
The rain has also caused widespread damage as Meteo-France, the country’s national weather agency, placed the region under an orange alert for rain, flooding and thunderstorms, French broadcaster BFM TV reported.
Two of those who died were an elderly couple who were in their car as it was swept away by floodwaters in the seaside town of Le Lavandou, France 24 reported.
Meanwhile, the gendarmerie said around 2.30pm local time (1:30pm UK time) that a person had been found drowned in their vehicle in the commune of Vidauban.
Le Lavandou and the commune of Bormes-les-Mimosas were particularly hard hit by the storms.
Gil Bernardi, mayor of Le Lavandou, said during a press conference: “The roads, the bridges, the paving stones, there is no more electricity, water, or wastewater treatment plant. The shock is significant because the phenomenon is truly violent and incomprehensible.
“As we speak, an entire part of the commune is inaccessible.”
Power and water outages were also reported in the town of Cavaliere where 250mm of rain fell in the space of one hour.
A parking lot collapsed in the town, and dozens of people were rescued, according to the authorities.
Around 200 firefighters and 35 gendarmes have reportedly been responding to the floods in Var.
Meteo-France had recorded cumulative rainfall exceeding 10cm as of 10am local time.
Japan’s agriculture minister has resigned after saying he has “never had to buy rice” while the country struggles with shortages and rising costs of its staple grain.
Taku Eto offered his resignation to Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba on Wednesday after he made the comments at a party seminar on Sunday.
Mr Eto said his supporters have always gifted him rice, meaning he does not have to buy it himself.
His comments immediately sparked a public backlash.
“I made an extremely inappropriate remark at a time when consumers are struggling with soaring rice prices,” Mr Eto told reporters after handing in his resignation at the prime minister’s office.
He told the Kyodo news agency: “I asked myself whether it is appropriate for me to stay at the helm [of the agriculture ministry] at a critical time for rice prices, and I concluded that it is not.
“Once again, I apologise to people for making extremely inappropriate comments as minister when they are struggling with surging rice prices.”
Opposition parties had threatened to submit a no-confidence motion against him if Mr Eto did not resign voluntarily by Wednesday afternoon.
Japan has been struggling with rice shortages since hot weather resulted in a poor harvest in 2023.
The Japanese government’s emergency rice reserves in Saitama Prefecture in March. Pic: AP
More recently, a government preparedness warning ahead of a major earthquake last August prompted panic buying – squeezing supplies even further.
Politicians have also blamed the rising cost of fertiliser and other related goods.
The crisis has seen the government release vast quantities of rice from its emergency stockpiles for the first time.
In April, Japan also imported the grain from South Korea for the first time in 25 years in a further bid to boost supplies and lower prices.
But shelf prices have continued to rise, reaching 4,268 yen (£22) per 5kg in the week to 11 May – double what it was a year ago.
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Mr Eto has been replaced by Shinjiro Koizumi, a former environment minister who ran unsuccessfully against the prime minister for the Liberal Democratic Party leadership last year.
The rice crisis is placing further strain on Mr Ishiba’s minority government – ahead of the country’s upcoming elections in July.
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