Çavuşoğlu, Kuleba discuss deadly missile attacks on Ukraine
Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu (L) and Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba shake hands during a meeting in Lviv, western Ukraine, March 17, 2022. (Reuters Photo)


Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu spoke with his Ukrainian counterpart Dmytro Kuleba by phone on Monday, discussing the latest wave of Russian missile attacks on the capital Kyiv and other major Ukrainian cities.

"I had a call with my Turkish counterpart Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu who strongly condemned Russian strikes and affirmed that Türkiye will continue its support for Ukraine. We coordinated efforts on mobilizing a resolute response within the U.N. General Assembly," Kuleba wrote on Twitter following the call.

The attacks are seen as the Kremlin's revenge for the weekend explosion that damaged the strategically important bridge connecting the annexed Crimean Peninsula to mainland Russia.

"At this stage, the death of five and the injury of 12 Kyiv residents are confirmed," Interior Ministry adviser Anton Gerashchenko said on his Telegram channel.

A children's playground was among the Kyiv sites affected by the missile fire, Gerashchenko added. Emergency workers were tending to injured people and extinguishing burning cars, video showed.

Several explosions were heard in Kyiv on Monday morning, sending plumes of smoke over the city center. Witnesses said areas continued to be hit by explosions some two hours after the first was heard.

Ukraine's capital has been hit by Russian missiles several times since the beginning of the war on Feb. 24. But Monday's was the worst incident of its kind and the first attack on Kyiv in months.

Rocket attacks were also reported in other parts of Ukraine, from Lviv in the west to areas of the more hotly contested east. Air raid warnings sounded almost nationwide, urging Ukrainians to seek shelter and city mayors called on people to seek out bomb shelters.

In the southeastern Dnipropetrovsk region, Governor Valentyn Reznichenko said there were a number of dead and injured following attacks around the industrial city of Dnipro.