A rocket slammed into an apartment block in central Ukraine on Friday morning, as a Russian aerial assault against towns and cities across the country killed at least 23 people and injured dozens more, officials said.

In the first wide-ranging Russian assault against civilian targets in more than a month, air alarms blared around 4am (local time) as Russian bombers over the Caspian Sea unleashed about two dozen cruise missiles and attack drones at targets across Ukraine.

The deadliest attack appeared to be in the central city of Uman, which is nearly 322km north of the front line and has not been a frequent target of attacks.

At least 19 people were killed in Uman and 18 were wounded, according to Ukraine’s State Emergency Service. President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Twitter that rescue workers would search “until they make sure that no one else is left under the rubble”.

One of the rockets hit a nine-storey residential building, reducing the front to ruin, Ihor Klymenko, the head of Ukraine’s National Police, said on the Telegram messaging app. More than 100 people lived in the block, where more than half of the 46 apartments were destroyed, he said.

“The entire town heard that awful explosion,” said Tetiana, a local hotel administrator who asked that her family name not be published out of safety concerns. “It has been quiet for a while, and we had a feeling like life is coming back to normal. And now, again.”

Ihor Taburets, the head of the regional military administration, said that two 10-year-olds were among the dead. In addition to the residential buildings, the missiles hit a warehouse, he said. Taburets posted photographs of rescue workers scrambling amid the smoke and debris.

Explosions also rang out in the central city of Dnipro around 4.30am (local time), according to the local authorities. Serhii Lysak, the head of the regional military administration, said a young woman and child had been killed in an attack.

At least four others were injured in the city.

New York Times News Service