Wave of attacks hits Ukraine's cities as G20 leaders condemn Russia's invasion

Two residential buildings in Kyiv were hit, mayor says

Firefighters work to put out a fire in a residential building hit by a Russian strike. Reuters

Russian air strikes have hit Ukraine from east to west, including attacks in Kyiv that struck residential buildings and attacks elsewhere on energy facilities that knocked out power.

Air raid alerts sounded across Ukraine as officials in multiple regions reported Russian strikes on energy plants and power outages.

The attacks came as G20 leaders condemned the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

One person died when two residential buildings in Ukraine's capital were hit by missiles, the mayor of Kyiv said.

“There is an attack on the capital. According to preliminary information, two residential buildings were hit in the Pechersk district. Several missiles were shot down over Kyiv by air defence systems,” Kyiv's mayor Vitali Klitschko said in a statement on social media.

“Medics and rescuers are at the scene of the strikes. More details later.”

“There are explosions in Lviv,” the city's mayor Andriy Sadovy said in a statement on social media, calling on residents to stay in shelters.

Kharkiv's mayor Igor Terekhov said there was a “missile attack” on the city and that information about any casualties was being sought.

The deputy head of the president's office, Kyrylo Tymoshenko, said in a statement online that the missiles had been fired by Russian forces.

“The danger has not passed. Stay in shelters,” he added.

He distributed footage from the Kyiv attack that showed a blaze emerging from a Soviet-era, five-story residential building.

The energy situation in Ukraine was “critical” following the missile strikes, he added.

National grid operator Ukrenergo said the worst damage was in northern and central regions and that emergency power outages for “all categories of consumers” had been introduced in those areas.

Ukraine's presidential chief of staff Andriy Yermak said the attacks were in response to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's address to the G20, during which he called on leaders to pressure the Kremlin to end its invasion.

“Does anyone seriously think that the Kremlin really wants peace? It wants obedience. But at the end of the day, terrorists always lose,” Mr Yermak said.

In the recently liberated city of Kherson, power and water infrastructure was severely damaged, local authorities said on Tuesday.

“There is no light, heat, or water in Kherson. The situation is really complicated,” the deputy leader of Kherson's council, Serhii Khlan, said.

He added that Starlink connection points where people can charge their electronic devices have started to appear in the city.

Russian forces have in recent weeks targeted energy infrastructure across Ukraine and launched barrages of missiles and fired swarms of drones at the capital.

The US and UK both condemned the latest Russian attacks.

“It is not lost on us that, as world leaders meet at the G20 in Bali to discuss the issues of significant importance to the lives and livelihoods of people around the world, Russia again threatens those lives and destroys Ukraine’s critical infrastructure,” said US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan.

“These Russian strikes will serve to only deepen the concerns among the G20 about the destabilising impact of Putin’s war.”

UK Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said. “The callous targeting of Ukrainian cities with more sickening missile attacks today shows only Putin’s weakness. Putin is losing on the battlefield and — as we saw today at the G20 — diplomatically too.”

Mr Zelenskyy, speaking to G20 leaders in Bali by video link, proposed a prisoner swap with Russia and presented a 10-point peace plan to end the war.

He also included a path to nuclear safety, food security, a special tribunal for alleged Russian war crimes, and a peace treaty with Moscow.

He urged G20 leaders to use all their power to “make Russia abandon nuclear threats” and implement a price cap on energy imported from Moscow.

Indonesia’s President Joko Widodo said in his opening remarks: “Being responsible means ending the war … If the war does not end, it will be difficult for the world to move forward.