Multiple casualties have been reported in Ukraine following the announcement by Russian President Vladimir Putin of a military operation in the country.
Citing a Ukrainian interior ministry source, CNN reported that the first missile strikes on Thursday in Ukraine caused hundreds of casualties, although it wasn’t known how many of those people were killed.
The network said that there had been at least 19 salvos in the capital city, Kyiv, and there have been reports of similar strikes across the country.
Images shared on social media demonstrated the extent to which civilians were being impacted by Russia’s actions. One clip on Twitter showed an apartment block in Chuhuiv, south of Kharkiv, seriously damaged after it was hit in the opening strikes.
Meanwhile, Ukraine’s General Office of the National Police said that at least six people has been killed and seven others wounded in a bombing in the city of Podolsk in the southern Odessa region.