A Reuters journalist heard the sound of a missile flying overhead at low altitude, about 30 kilometers from the capital Kyiv.
Two missiles were found on the territory of the Mykolaiv region, its governor, Vitaly Kim, said on the Telegram messaging app.
“The missiles are flying inside the territory of Ukraine. At least two northwest through the Mykolaiv region,” he said.
An air raid warning went out across the country as people headed to work. In the capital, people sheltered in a metro station, with some sitting on blankets and small plastic chairs.
“The first Russian missiles were fired,” said Andriy Yermak, the head of the president’s office.
Russia has been targeting critical infrastructure with missile and drone attacks since October, causing blackouts and other outages throughout the winter.
DTEK, Ukraine’s largest private power producer, said it was conducting emergency power cuts in the capital, Kyiv, the surrounding region, and also in Odesa and Dnipropetrovsk regions due to danger of missile attack.
During the night, the military said that anti-aircraft defenses had shot down all 24 drones sent by Russia.
Fifteen of the drones crashed around the capital Kyiv where there were no reports of any damage.
(Reporting by Aleksandar Vasovic, Olena Harmash; Writing by Tom Balmforth; Editing by Jacqueline Wong)
