Massive attack on Ukraine

Russia launched a barrage of missiles on Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities in a rare daytime attack on Monday (July 8), killing at least 27 people across the country and hitting a key children's hospital, officials said, Reuters reports.

Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko published video on his Telegram channel showing him in front of a heavily damaged residential building.

He said that he and others at the site heard voices from beneath the rubble.

"Russians once again massively attacked Ukraine with missiles. Different cities: Kyiv, Dnipro, Kryvyi Rih, Sloviansk, Kramatorsk," Zelensky said, listing major civilian hubs in the south and east of the country, The Moscow Times reports.

"More than 40 missiles of various types. Residential buildings, infrastructure and a children's hospital were damaged," he wrote on social media.

Zelensky said that there were an unknown number of people trapped under the rubble of the Okhmatdyt children's hospital and it was not immediately clear how many had been killed.

The Russian Defence Ministry said on Monday that its forces had carried out strikes on defence industry targets and aviation bases in Ukraine.

"The objectives of the strike have been achieved. The assigned objects are hit," the ministry said in a statement.