5 Civilians Killed As Russia Decimates Ukraine 2 Biggest Cities In Airstrikes

The latest strike prompted calls for the West to quickly provide more military assistance to Ukraine.

The missile and drone attacks on the capital Kyiv and the northeastern city of Kharkiv also wounded dozens of people, caused widespread damage and hit power supplies, Reuters reported.

Russia has intensified its attacks over the New Year period, with President Vladimir Putin warning on Monday that a Ukrainian air strike on the Russian city of Belgorod, which Moscow said killed 25 civilians, would "not go unpunished".

Smoke belched out of the charred side of a high-rise residential building in Kyiv where mayor Vitali Klitschko said an elderly woman had been killed and 49 people hurt, the report said.?

Emergency services later recovered another corpse from the building, it added.

A 91-year-old woman was killed in a missile strike on Kharkiv that also wounded dozens and a married couple was killed in an attack in the area around Kyiv, the report mentioned.

"Russia will answer for every life (that it has) taken away," the report quoted Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy as saying.?

Russia stepped up missile and drone strikes on December 29, when it launched its largest air attack of the war, killing at least 39 people.?

Kyiv had warned for weeks that Russia appeared to be stockpiling missiles for big attacks.

Russia holds swathes of territory in eastern and southern Ukraine, and there is no end in sight to the war as next month's second anniversary of Moscow's full-scale invasion approaches.

Ukraine relies heavily on military and financial support from its allies, but over $110 billion in aid from the United States and the European Union has been delayed by political wrangling.