KYIV: A wave of Russian missiles hit Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities on Tuesday, killing eight people and wounding dozens as new panic spread among exhausted residents.

Rescue workers in Khar­kiv — Ukraine’s second city that is near Russia’s border — hauled survivors from smouldering piles of rubble as apartment blocks were set ablaze and toppled by the strikes, journalists reported.

Authorities said seven people were killed in the northeastern city of Khar­kiv in the overnight barrage that also wounded more than 50 people. The toll rose after emergency services said they pulled out “the body of a dead woman from under the rubble of a destroyed high-rise building”. Rescue operations, they said, were ongoing.

Oleksandra Terek­hovich ran into the corridor of her home for protection when she heard the first explosion. The second blast hit the building next door, shattering her windows and door, she said.

“There are no more tears. Our country has been going through what has been happening for two years now. We live with horror inside of us,” she said. Interior Minister Igor Klymenko praised “heroic” rescuers that he said had pulled 27 survivors from rubble. He posted dramatic footage of workers cutting free a man who had been trapped in freezing temperatures for hours.

Ukraine’s army chief Valery Zaluzhny said Russian forces fired 41 missiles in the barrage and his forces had downed 21 of them. Reporters in Kyiv heard air raid sirens echo over the capital at night, followed by a series of loud blasts as defence systems targeted the aerial onslaught.

Published in Dawn, January 24th, 2024