Latest news on Russia and the war in Ukraine

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy commented on the latest series of strikes on Kyiv and Kharkiv, saying 92 people are now known to have been wounded in the attacks. Four people have died, he said.

“More than 500 rescuers of the State Emergency Service of Ukraine, utilities services, energy workers, policemen,” are working to alleviate the consequences of the attacks, he said on Telegram.

Since Dec. 31, Russian forces had used around 170 “Shaheds” (Iranian-made) drones and dozens of missiles of various types, Zelenskyy said, adding that “the absolute majority of them were aimed at civilian objects.”

The president noted that Ukraine’s air defense systems, such as the U.S.-donated Patriot system, were helping to save hundreds of lives.

“This year, we will continue working with everyone in the world who values life to further strengthen our air shield and hold Russia accountable for what it has done. A terrorist state must feel the consequences of what it does,” Zelenskyy said.

— Holly Ellyatt

One person is dead and 44 others wounded following a Russian missile attack on the northeastern city of Kharkiv, a regional official said Tuesday.

“A 91-year-old woman died as a result of enemy rocket attacks on the center of Kharkiv,” Oleh Syniehubov, head of Kharkiv Oblast Military Administration, said on Telegram.

“As of now, 44 victims are known. Among them are 5 children: 3 boys aged 9; girls 6 and 13 years old. The injured children have explosive injuries, bruises, acubarotraumas [contusions], acute reactions to stress,” he said.

Of the 44 people that were injured, 28 are in hospital.

— Holly Ellyatt

Kharkiv in northeast Ukraine has come under a “massive rocket attack” on Tuesday, the city’s mayor warned, urging civilians to remain within air raid shelters.

“There are several arrivals [of missiles] in the center of Kharkiv, in residential areas. There is a fire there now, rescuers have gone to the scene. Information about the victims is currently being clarified,” Igor Terekhov said on Telegram.

“We have information that needs to be clarified about 41 [people] wounded. There is also information about the dead — their number is being clarified,” he said.

He noted that Russia had previously struck Kharkiv with its next-generation Kinzhal (or “dagger”) hypersonic ballistic missiles but it was not confirmed whether these missiles were used in the latest attack. Officials in Kyiv said Kinzhal missiles had been fired at the capital earlier. CNBC was not able to immediately verify the claims.

— Holly Ellyatt

The latest missile attacks on Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities, including Kharkiv, in the early hours of this morning come after Russian President Vladimir Putin vowed to intensify Russia’s attacks on Ukraine after a strike on the border city of Belgorod.

Speaking to Russian military personnel at a hospital on Monday, Putin said Russian forces would increase their attacks on military targets in Ukraine after an attack on the Russian city of Belgorod on Saturday reportedly left 25 people dead and more than 100 injured.

Putin called the attack on Belgorod a terrorist act and a deliberate targeting of civilians. He said Russia was already retaliating, saying “strikes against Ukrainian military targets were carried out yesterday, today, and will be carried out tomorrow,” according to comments translated by NBC News.

“Do you understand the meaning of what they [Ukraine] are doing? They want to intimidate us and create some kind of uncertainty in our country. For our part, we will step up the strikes that I mentioned, of course. Not a single crime — and this is, of course, a crime against the civilian population — will go unpunished, 100% of that. There can be no doubt,” Putin said.

Adding that he was furious about the Belgorod attack, saying he was “boiling inside” following the strike, Putin insisted that Russia will not hit Ukraine’s civilian population in response.

Ukraine’s capital Kyiv was attacked early Tuesday morning, leaving at least 16 civilians injured.

— Holly Ellyatt

At least 16 people were wounded in Russian missile strikes on Kyiv Tuesday morning, the city’s mayor said.

“So far, 16 people have been injured in a multi-story building in the Solomyan district, which caught fire as a result of a rocket attack. Doctors hospitalized 15 of them,” Klitschko said, warning that there were several fires caused by destroyed missile debris in several other city districts.

— Holly Ellyatt

Poland said on Tuesday that two pairs of F-16 fighter jets and an allied air tanker were put into action to protect Polish airspace amid Russian strikes on Ukraine.

— Reuters

Air raid warnings are ongoing in Kyiv Tuesday, with officials warning that explosions and Russian missile debris have been reported in several areas of Ukraine’s capital.

“Explosions in the capital. In particular, in the Holosiivskyi district, a fragment of a missile fell on the open space of the park. There are explosions in the Obolon district,” Kyiv’s Mayor Vitali Klitschko said on Telegram early Tuesday.

Electricity supplies to some residential buildings in several districts of the capital have been cut off, he added.

Ukraine’s air force warned earlier of incoming Russian missiles targeting Kyiv, noting on Telegram Tuesday that “repeated launches” of Russian Kh-47M2 Kinzhal or “Dagger” hypersonic air-launched ballistic missiles “are possible.”

The fragments of Russian missiles destroyed by Ukraine’s air defenses have landed in four districts across the capital, Kyiv’s city military administration said on Telegram.

At least 29 people were killed in Russia’s most recent large-scale attack on Kyiv last Friday, the KCMA confirmed Monday.

“For three days in a row, rescuers are conducting a search and rescue operation after an air strike on Kyiv. Unfortunately, bodies of those killed by Russian missiles are still being found. As of today, at 10:30 p.m., 29 dead have been found,” the KCMA said on Telegram.

The administration said it was the “worst tragedy for the capital since the beginning of the full-scale invasion” in terms of the number of casualties.

Ukraine retaliated by attacking the Russian border city of Belgorod on Saturday, killing at least 25 people and injuring more than 100.

— Holly Ellyatt