May 1 (UPI) — Dozens of people were injured in Ukraine as Russia launched a predawn missile strike, officials said Monday.
Serhii Lysak, head of the Dnipro Regional Military Administration, said in a Telegram post that 34 people had been injured in the attacks on the Pavlohrad district.
Five children were among those injured, with the youngest being an 8-year-old girl.
“Two women, 45 and 55 years old, are in intensive care,” Lysak said. “The rest are being treated on an outpatient basis.”
Ukraine’s Dnipropetrovsk military administration said it was a “tragic night and morning” after 19 high-rise apartment blocks, 25 private houses, six schools and kindergartens and five shops were damaged.
The attack marked the second time in three days that Russia conducted a predawn raid into Ukraine.
Authorities said they shot down 15 of the 18 cruise missiles fired by Russia in the latest strike while air raids later sounded off in Kyiv and other parts of the country as the Ukrainian military said all the drones and missiles directed at Kyiv were destroyed in the Kherson region.
The day before, intense shelling by Russia hammered Kherson and Kharkiv, hitting residential areas. Some homes were left smoldering after being struck with anti-aircraft missiles in the city of Kupyansk,
Meanwhile, an explosion in the western Russian region of Bryansk bordering Ukraine derailed a Russian freight train on Monday, Bryansk Gov. Alexander Bogomaz said. Local authorities said the train was carrying “fuel and building materials.”
No one immediately took responsibility for the attack, but there has been an increase in Russian railway attacks since the invasion of Ukraine. Since the fall, Russian authorities have taken into custody at least 66 Russians on charges of railway sabotage.