11 Cruise Missiles Destroyed Over Kyiv As Russian Missile Strikes Hit Ukrainian Cities. 2 Dead In Dnipro

Unidentified airborne objects were headed for the west of Ukraine, reports said as people in Kyiv reported hearing explosions "Noises of missiles flying", "dawn air raids"

Russian missile strikes hit several Ukrainian cities overnight killing at least two in Dnipro. Air raid alerts were issued throughout Ukraine early on Friday including capital Kyiv, as per reports that said explosions were heard in cities in widely separated regions. Interfax Ukraine news agency said that explosions were reported after midnight in Dnipro, Kremenchuk, and Poltava in central Ukraine and in Mykolaiv in the south, as cited by news agency Reuters and The Guardian.

According to news agency AFP, missiles "killed civilians again in the city of Dnipro", the city mayor said on Telegram, adding: "A young woman and a three-year-old child died." 11 cruise missiles were destroyed by air defence over Kyiv, AFP reported city officials as informing.

Interfax reported regional Telegram accounts as saying that unidentified airborne objects were headed for the west of the country.

Explosions were heard in Kyiv and the region surrounding the capital early on Friday, Interfax Ukraine and local telegram channels said.

Ukraine Front Lines reported that "In Uman, Cherkasy oblast, a high-rise building was hit by russian X-101/555 missile."

The British Ambassador to Ukraine, Melinda Simmons, who appears to be in Kyiv, wrote that she heard “bangs”.

“Given up trying to sleep. Headed to windowless room with a book after hearing a bang outside,” she tweeted.

Iuliia Mendel, a former spokesperson to Volodymyr Zelenskiy, informed on Twitter that in Kyiv it was, “Very loud outside. Noises of missiles flying, explosions.”

Several such posts surfaced on social media.

More information about damage and casualties is awaited. As per The Guardian, the city’s military administration said that anti-aircraft units were in operation.

Earlier, Chinese President Xi Jinping held a “long and meaningful” telephone call with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky – the first time since Russia invaded Ukraine more than a year ago. Chinese state media reported that Xi told Zelensky China would not “add fuel to the fire” of the war but that peace talks were the “only way out” of the conflict, adding: “There is no winner in nuclear wars.”