Fresh explosions have rocked Ukraine today as Russia is accused of trying to wipe out the Ukrainian people by targeting energy infrastructure to deprive them of heat and water through the raw winter.
Cities across Ukraine once again woke up to the sound of shelling as power and water supplies were knocked out in at least four cities on Tuesday.
The 263,000 residents of Zhytomyr have been left without water and electricity after a series of missile strikes, the city's mayor said this morning and officials in Dnipro said a facility had been seriously damaged.
Since October 10, Ukrainian officials estimate around 30 per cent of the country's energy infrastructure has been destroyed, causing mass blackouts.
In the southern Ukrainian port of Mykolaiv, a missile slammed into an apartment building killing at least one man, a Reuters witness said, and blasts were heard and smoke seen rising in Kyiv, the capital.
There were also reports of power facilities being targeted in the city of Kharkiv, a city with a pre-war population of 1.43 million people, close to the Russian border.
Smoke was seen rising from the nation's capital of Kyiv as a building was hit in the north of the city, officials said.
An advisor to President Volodymyr Zelensky said the attacks prove Russia's genocidal intentions for the Ukrainian people.
In a Tweet, Mykhaïlo Podoliak wrote: "Civilian infrastructure attacks, mass executions and raping, forced deportation, families separation, literature destruction in schools, 'dismantling of Ukraine ' official statements."
Tagging US lawmaker Steve Cohen he added: "@RepCohen is right: Russia is committing genocide in Ukraine. This must be officially recognized."
Zelensky also accused Russia of terrorising and killing civilians with the aerial bombardment today.
The fresh bombings came a day after drone strikes killed at least four people in cities including the capital, Kyiv.
"Ukraine is under fire by the occupiers. They continue to do what they do best - terrorise and kill civilians," Zelensky wrote on the Telegram messaging app.
There was no immediate word on how many people had been killed in the strikes.
Russia carried out its latest strikes on Tuesday after the United States warned it would hold Moscow accountable for any war crimes.
Moscow denies targeting civilians. Its defence ministry has said it is carrying out attacks on military targets and energy infrastructure across Ukraine using high-precision weapons.
In the port city of Mykolaiv, a Reuters witness said they had heard three explosions in the early hours of Tuesday.
A missile had completely destroyed one wing of a building in the downtown area, leaving a massive crater, they said. A fire crew was seen pulling the dead body of a man from the rubble.
"In Mykolaiv, the enemy destroyed a residential building with S-300 missiles. A person died. There was also a strike at the flower market, the chestnut park. I wonder what the Russian terrorists were fighting against at these absolutely peaceful facilities?" Zelensky said.
The Russian strikes are said to be retaliation for a blast at the start of October on a bridge linking mainland Russia to Crimea - the peninsula Russia annexed from Ukraine in 2014.
Ukraine has not claimed responsibility for the explosion that damaged the Kerch Bridge, but Ukrainian officials celebrated the blast on social media.
