Russia is fiercely shelling Ukraine's capital Kyiv and other cities across the country in the most intense blasts to hit the Ukrainian capital since the early days of the war.
Preliminary reports suggest that at least ten people died and 60 were injured in the strike in Kyiv as of 8.45 am local time, as children on their way to school were sent running for shelter.
Further, potentially coordinated, explosions have also been heard across Ukraine from Lviv in the west to Dnipro in the east.
There have been four explosions in Kharkiv, northeast Ukraine, locals say and two rockets were shot down over Mykolaiv in southern Ukraine.
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Ukraine's Defence Ministry has vowed revenge for Monday's strikes on the country, as it said Russia used Iranian drones in missile strikes on Kyiv.
Commander-in-Chief of the Ukrainian Armed Forces says Russia fired 75 missiles at Ukrainian cities today.
"This morning, 75 missiles were launched. 41 of them were neutralised by our air defence," General Valeriy Zaluzhnyi, Commander-in-Chief of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, wrote on Twitter.
The mayor of Kharkiv says missiles have hit an energy infrastructure site, causing power and water outages there
The blasts in the capital have caused deaths and injuries and the power is now flickering on and off in central Kyiv.
UK Security Minister Tom Tugendhat branded the strikes on Ukrainian cities "war crimes" while Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said they were "unacceptable".
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said Russian missile strikes showed President Vladimir Putin "is a terrorist who talks with missiles."
Footage shared on social media shows a black mushroom cloud of smoke rising into the sky, while cars were blown out and buildings severely damaged.
A senior aide to the Ukrainian president said Russian rocket strikes on cities across Ukraine on Monday were a signal to the civilised world that “the Russia question” must be solved with force.
“Cowards fighting playgrounds, children and people,” Andriy Yermak wrote. Continuing: “This is another signal to the civilised world that the Russian question must be solved by force.”
Shevchenko Park in central Kyiv, one of the city’s busiest parks usually packed with people and street musicians, was obliterated in the blasts.
Journalist Olga Tokariuk tweeted: "This is the park we used to go to often with my child. She would play on the playground, and then we'll go for crêpes at a kiosk nearby. There was always a queue because they were so good. It's so painful to watch."
Footage posted on social media shows one of the first strikes in Kyiv struck a glass pedestrian bridge, known as the Klitschko bridge. It opened in 2019 and connects St. Volodymyr Hill and Khreshchaty Park on the riverbank and the arc in the back used to commemorate Ukraine and Russia’s so-called friendship.
Volodymyr Zelensky, President of Ukraine, wrote a statement on Telegram saying: “On the 229th day [of the war], they are trying to destroy us and wipe us off the face of the earth. Destroy our people who are sleeping at home in Zaporizhzhia. Kill people who go to work in Dnipro and Kyiv.
"The air alarm does not subside throughout Ukraine. There are missiles striking. Unfortunately, there are dead and wounded. Please do not leave shelters. Take care of yourself and your loved ones. Let's hold on and be strong."
Head of the Mykolaiv regional military administration said that a new load of Kalibr missiles have been launched from the Black Sea and so residents should brace for more imminent attacks.
Aleksandr Lukashenko, President of Belarus and Putin have agreed on the deployment of a joint Russia-Belarus regional group of troops, a potentially significant development.
“My answer was simple: 'Tell the president of Ukraine and other insane people that the Crimean bridge will seem like flowers to them if they touch at least one meter of our territory with their dirty hands',” he said. Lukashenko.
The backdrop to all of this was what happened on Saturday when an explosion resulted in the partial destruction of the Kerch Bridge, a key crossing between Russia and Crimea - and a pivotal symbol of Moscow's annexation of the peninsula from Ukraine in 2014.
Russian President Vladimir Putin accused Ukraine of terrorism after the attack. In a video released by the Kremlin on Sunday, Putin accused “Ukrainian secret services” of carrying out a “terrorist attack aimed at destroying critical Russian civilian infrastructure”.
The attack - which saw a truck driving from the Russian side blow up - killed three people, Kremlin investigators said.
Officials said work to fix the damaged sections would begin immediately.
Russian Deputy Prime Minister Marat Khusnullin ordered the destroyed parts of the bridge to be taken down.
Ukraine has not taken responsibility for the explosion but has given thinly veiled approval for it.
President Volodymyr Zelensky acknowledged the incident in his nightly address on Saturday, saying: "Today was not a bad day and mostly sunny on our state's territory.
"Unfortunately, it was cloudy in Crimea. Although it was also warm," he added.
Russia's invasion of Ukraine has seen fighting focused on the regions north of Crimea most recently.
Six missiles were launched overnight on Saturday from Russian-occupied areas.
Zelensky also said on Saturday that Ukrainian troops were involved in very tough fighting near Bakhmut.
Russian troops are coming closer to the strategically important eastern town of Bakhmut, having advanced up to 2 km (1.24 miles) towards the town over the last week, a British intelligence update said today.
"Russia continues to give high priority to its own offensive operations in the central Donbas sector, especially near the town of Bakhmut," the UK Ministry of Defence tweeted in a regular bulletin.
Bakhmut sits on the main road leading to the cities of Sloviansk and Kramatorsk, both situated in the industrial Donbas region, which Moscow has yet to fully capture.
