Russian missiles strike several Ukrainian cities – local officials

LVIV, Ukraine (Reuters) -Russian missiles hit two cities in central Ukraine early on Saturday, damaging infrastructure and residential buildings, the head of the Poltava region said.

“Poltava. A missile struck one of the infrastructure facilities overnight,” Dmitry Lunin wrote in an online post. “Kremenchuk. Many attacks on the city in the morning.” Lunin later said at least four missiles hit two infrastructure objects in Poltava while, according to preliminary information, three enemy planes attacked the industrial facilities of Kremenchuk.

Poltava city is the capital of the Poltava region, east of Kyiv, and Kremenchuk one of the area’s major cities. There was no immediate information about possible casualties, Lunin said. Reuters could not immediately verify the report. Russia denies targeting civilians in the war that Russian President Vladimir Putin launched on Feb. 24, calling the biggest attack on a European state since World War Two “special military operation”.

In the Dnipro region in southwestern Ukraine, missiles hit an infrastructure facility, wounding two people and causing significant damage, Valentyn Reznichenko, head of the region, said in an online post. In the city of Kryvyi Rih a petrol station has been shelled, causing fire, he added.