Russian missile strikes on November 18 left at least 21 people dead and more than 100 injured in Ukraine, as strikes targeted the cities of Odesa and Sumy, according to Ukrainian officials.
In Odesa, a midday strike left 10 people dead and 39 injured, including a child, with four in critical condition, Oleh Kiper, the head of the Odesa Regional Military Administration, wrote on Telegram.
The strike damaged residential buildings and civilian infrastructure, with the city's center among the hardest-hit areas.
Hours earlier, a late-night missile strike devastated a residential building in Sumy, a city 40 kilometers from the Russian border, leaving 11 dead, including two children, and 89 wounded, according to Ukraine's Emergencies Ministry.
Rescuers evacuated over 400 residents and continue to search for survivors. The attack also left Sumy’s administrative center without power, Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said. More than 400 people were evacuated from the building.
The rescuers were checking every apartment looking for people who might be still in the damaged building.
"Every life destroyed by Russia is a big tragedy," Klymenko said.
In an effort to boost morale, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on November 18 visited the key frontline regions of Donetsk and Kharkiv.
In the embattled Donetsk city of Pokrovsk, the Ukrainian leader thanked troops, telling them that "only through your strength is the east [of Ukraine] not totally occupied" by Russian forces.
Zelenskiy also stopped in Kupyansk, which has been subject to relentless Russian shelling and is the target of the latest offensive by the Kremlin's troops.
"I received briefings from our commanders and updates on the security and social situation in the Donetsk and Kharkiv regions," he said in a Telegram post.
The late-night attack on Sumy followed what Kyiv said was a "massive" attack on Ukraine's power grid with 120 missiles and 90 drones that killed at least seven people.
Moscow routinely denies targeting civilian infrastructure. Such strikes are widely considered a war crime.
Russian strikes have hammered Ukraine's power infrastructure since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of its neighbor in February 2022, prompting repeated emergency power shutdowns and nationwide rolling blackouts.
The massive Russian attack also came as U.S. President Joe Biden had reportedly authorized the use of U.S.-supplied long-range missiles by Ukraine to strike inside Russia, after lobbying by Ukrainian officials.
The weapons are likely to be used in response to North Korea's decision to send thousands of troops to support Russia in the Kursk region where Ukraine mounted a military incursion over the summer.
"Today, much is being said in the media about us receiving permission for the relevant actions. But strikes are not made with words. Such things are not announced. The missiles will speak for themselves," Zelenskiy said in his nightly video address.
In the overnight attack on Sumy, the Ukrainian Air Force said the Russian military used two Iskander-M ballistic missiles and a Kh-59 guided missile.
Photographs posted on Telegram by the Ukrainian State Emergency Service showed firefighters battling a blaze consuming cars with rescuers carrying people out of a building. One image showed a building with nearly all windows blown out and its facade damaged.
Sumy regional prosecutors said the attack damaged 90 apartments, 28 cars, two educational institutions, and 13 buildings.
