Ukraine said Russia had destroyed homes in the south and knocked out power in the north in a new round of missile attacks on Monday as the West tried to limit Moscow's ability to finance its invasion by imposing a price cap on Russian seaborne oil.
Air alerts sounded across Ukraine and officials urged civilians to take shelter from what they said looked like a large wave of strikes, the latest in relentless rounds of air attacks by Russia since its February 24 invasion.
It followed reported incidents at two air bases inside Russia overnight, both hundreds of miles from Ukraine.
Three people were killed when a fuel tanker exploded at the air base in Ryazan, 185km southeast of Moscow, state news agency RIA said.
Roman Busargin, regional governor of Saratov, further to the southeast, acknowledged separate reports of a blast at a base housing bomber planes that are part of Russia's strategic nuclear forces.
Busargin reassured residents they were safe after what he called reports on social media of a "loud bang and a flash" at the Engels air base. "Information about incidents at military facilities is being checked by law enforcement agencies," he said, without elaborating.
The Engels base, about 730km south of Moscow, is one of two strategic bomber bases housing Russia's air-delivered nuclear capability, comprising 60-70 planes.
Ukraine did not claim responsibility for either incident, or for earlier mysterious explosions. Weapons stores and fuel depots have been hit in Russian regions close to the border with Ukraine and at least seven warplanes destroyed in Crimea, annexed by Russia from Ukraine in 2014. Kyiv has said such incidents are "karma" for Russia's invasion.
The Russian attacks on Monday killed two people in the Zaporizhzhia region where several houses were destroyed, the deputy head of the presidential office, Kyrylo Tymoshenko, said in one of the first reports of the damage.
Buildings had been hit in the suburbs of the city of Zaporizhzhia and some Russian missiles had been shot down, a city official said.
The governor of the Kyiv capital region said its air defences were working there, and told residents to remain in shelters. An energy provider said power had been knocked out in the northern region of Sumy by the latest missile strikes.
Russian forces have increasingly targeted Ukrainian energy facilities in recent weeks as they have been forced to retreat on some battlefronts, causing major power outages as winter sets in.
Ukraine had only just returned to scheduled power outages from on Monday rather than the emergency blackouts it has suffered since widespread Russian strikes on November 23, the worst of the attacks on energy infrastructure that began in early October.
