‘Catastrophic’: Russia intensifies shelling attacks on cities, Ukraine says

Russian forces step up shelling of Ukrainian cities in the center, north and south of the country, Ukrainian presidential adviser Oleksiy Arestovich says.

“The latest wave of missile strikes came as darkness fell,” he says on Ukrainian television.

He says the areas that came under heavy shelling include the outskirts of Kyiv, Chernihiv in the north, Mykolaiv in the south, and Kharkiv, the country’s second-largest city.

Kharkiv officials say the shelling damaged a television tower and heavy artillery is hitting residential areas.

In Chernihiv officials say all regions of the city are coming under missile attack.

Arestovich describes a “catastrophic” situation in the Kyiv suburbs of Bucha, Hostomel and Irpin, where efforts to evacuate residents today failed. He says the government is doing all it can to resume evacuations.

Evacuations also fail in Mariupol in the south and Volnovakha in the east because of the shelling.