Moscow, January 23 – Explosions were heard in Kiev, Kharkiv, and several other Ukrainian cities, according to local media reports. The Ukrainian 24 channel reported “Explosions in Kiev” on Telegram, a message that was later confirmed by Kiev Mayor Vitali Klitschko in his own Telegram channel. He urged residents not to leave their shelters. Local authorities announced the operation of air defense systems over the capital city. The Kiev City Military Administration also published a message on their Telegram channel confirming the explosions. The publication “Novosti.Live” also reported an explosion in Kharkiv. Mayor Igor Terekhov wrote on Telegram that there had been a series of explosions in Kharkiv. Ukrainian media also reported explosions in Shostka in the Sumy region and Pavlohrad in the Dnipropetrovsk region. Earlier in the morning, an air alarm was sounded throughout Ukraine. The Russian army is launching missile strikes on energy facilities, defense industry sites, military command centers, and communication facilities in the former Soviet republic in response to shelling of civilian objects by the Ukrainian Armed Forces on Russian territory. The signal of missile danger is declared in Ukrainian regions every day, sometimes throughout the country. However, as Kremlin representative Dmitry Peskov has repeatedly emphasized, the military does not target residential buildings and social infrastructure in Ukraine.
