Russia unleashes barrage of missiles on Ukraine's major cities

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Russia terminated scores of rockets into Ukraine from the beginning of Thursday, targetting the capital Kyiv, Lviv, and Odesa in the west, and different urban communities in perhaps of the biggest elevated siege sent individuals hurrying to cover and took out the power.

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"Senseless barbarism. These are the only words that come to mind seeing Russia launch another missile barrage at peaceful Ukrainian cities ahead of New Year," Ukraine's Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba tweeted.

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Ukraine's military said it had shot down 54 missiles out of 69 launched by Russia in an assault that began at 7am local time. Air raid sirens rang out across Ukraine and in Kyiv sounded for five hours - one of the longest alarms of the war.

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Officials had earlier said more than 120 missiles were fired into Ukraine during the attack.

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In Kyiv, Reuters footage showed a team of emergency workers poring through the smouldering wreckage of residential houses destroyed by a blast and smoke trails of missiles lingering in the sky over the capital.

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In Kharkiv, Ukraine's second largest city, fire fighters worked to extinguish a large blaze at an electricity station.

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