Ukrainian officials branded the strikes an act of ‘vicious terror’ (Picture: Shutterstock)
Five civilians have been killed in Russian strikes which hit schools, nurseries, hospitals and a shopping centre in Ukraine.
At least 53 people, including a 14-year-old girl were also injured in the attack on the eastern city of Dnipro, officials say.
Putin’s forces targeted multiple districts using drones and missiles on Wednesday morning.
Three nurseries and two schools were damaged, with windows blown out and debris scattered over classrooms.
A shopping centre was among several buildings damaged by the blasts (Picture: Shutterstock)
Victims described being thrown to the ground by shockwaves from the blasts (Picture: Shutterstock)
The blasts also damaged the intensive care unit of a children’s hospital and caused a fire in another hospital.
In one commercial area, the windows of several buildings including a shopping centre were blown out, sending shards of glass outwards which hit shoppers.
Georgii, an elderly man with bandaged nose and bloodied face, told the Reuters news agency: ‘There was such a strong explosion that the wave hit me and I fell.’
A day of mourning was held on Thursday in honour of the victims of what Ukrainian officials called an act of ‘vicious terror’.
A day of mourning was held for the victims on Thursday (Picture: Shutterstock)
The strikes also hit schools, nurseries and hospitals (Picture: Shutterstock)
Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, called for allies to supply more air defence weaponry and relax restrictions on Ukraine using their arsenal to attack Russian territory.
‘Only two things can stop this Russian terror – modern air defence systems and the long-range capabilities of our weapons,’ he said.
Meanwhile, three young Russian brothers were jailed for 17 years each for trying to defect to Ukraine.
Ioann, Alexei and Timofey Ashcheulov (24, 20 and 19) were arrested last July while trying to cross the Russian-Ukrainian border.
Russian officials refused to comment on the strikes (Picture: Reuters)
According to independent Russian news site Mediazona, Ioann said at his sentencing: ‘I believe the Russian leadership, in the name of the Russian state, has committed a huge crime, the biggest of the 21st century.
He said he did not believe himself a ‘traitor to Russia’ and saw his actions as ‘an attempt to stop this crime’.
He added: ‘I am not obliged to support everything the government of the country in which I was born [is doing].’
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