Russia fired two dozen ballistic missiles at Kyiv overnight on Sunday, killing one person and wounding 16, in an ever-escalating air war that is taking an increasing civilian toll on both sides.
The latest bombardment highlights a dual challenge for Ukraine in its fifth year of war. It is facing intensifying Russian missile attacks alongside rare domestic political instability triggered by a sudden wartime shakeup of its defence leadership.
In the morning, AFP journalists in Kyiv saw charred apartment blocks with windows blown out and mangled, overturned cars.
"The missiles just kept coming one after another, the explosions were powerful, it was horrible," 47-year-old Kyiv resident Ganna Zagorodnia told AFP.
"I thought that life was just about to end."
In a statement on social media, Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky said that "overnight, Russia carried out one of its largest ballistic missile attacks on Kyiv," launching more than 40 missiles, 25 of them ballistic.
Zelensky added that one person was killed and 16 others wounded in the attack, which police said targeted six districts.
Elsewhere in Ukraine, afternoon Russian strikes killed four and wounded 20 at a post warehouse in Kharkiv, the country's eastern second-biggest city, said local military governor Oleg Syniegubov.
In the Black Sea city of Odesa, a teenager was killed and 12 were wounded, including a two-year-old child, after a Russian attack on an amusement park, said governor Oleg Kiper.
Russia, which denies targeting civilians, said it struck military facilities and logistics hubs in Kyiv and port infrastructure used by the Ukrainian army in Odesa.
Even as the war raged, thousands have been gathering in big cities across Ukraine for three consecutive days to protest at the removal of popular defence minister Mykhailo Fedorov.
Demonstrators also called for the resignation of Ukraine's chief commander Oleksandr Syrsky, who reportedly had demanded Fedorov's dismissal after the two clashed over how to counter the Russian invasion.
Following the protests, two experienced top Ukrainian generals -- the navy and the air assault force chiefs -- backed Syrsky in rare political statements, calling for unity and saying divisions are playing into the enemy's hands.
"It is particularly painful to hear peremptory judgments from people who have never issued combat orders, never taken responsibility for the lives and health of the personnel," said air assault force commander Oleg Apostol, referring to Fedorov's critisism of Syrsky.
Echoing that, navy commander Oleksiy Neizhpapa said: "doubts about the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) during wartime are unacceptable. The AFU is perhaps the only institution that stands firmly on its feet, no matter what."
Fedorov, 35, who never served in the army, accused the 60-year-old, Russian-born general Syrsky of dividing the country.
He criticised slow bureaucracy and a lack of flexibility, questioning whether Ukraine could defeat Russia with Syrsky in charge of the army.
Since the start of the US-Israeli war on Iran, Ukraine has suffered from a shortage of air defence projectiles for its US-designed Patriot systems, which are essential for fending off ballistic rounds.
Exploiting the shortage, Russia has intensified its air raids on Kyiv in recent weeks, launching barrages of balistic missiles -- fast, hard to intercept weapons -- roughly once a week.
"Protection against ballistic missiles is our constant and top priority right now. Interceptors are needed every day," Zelensky said.
Overnight on Sunday, out of 25 Russian ballistic missiles, 17 were intercepted, the air force said -- a rate suggesting Ukraine's air defence situation might be improving.
On the Russian side, a Ukrainian strike killed one person in the Kursk region, near the Ukrainian border, regional governor Alexander Khinshtein said on Telegram.
Another drone salvo hit the Caspian Pipeline Consortium's terminal near the Russian Black Sea port of Novorossiysk -- a key export route for Kazakh oil, partly owned by Chevron and Shell.
Kyiv has in recent months intensified its strikes on Russian territory, disrupting the lives of ordinary Russians -- strikes it calls retribution for more than four years of bombardments against its territory.
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