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Russia pounded Ukraine\u2019s two biggest cities in a new wave of heavy air strikes on Tuesday, killing at least five civilians and prompting calls for the West to quickly provide more military assistance.<\/p>\n
The missile and drone attacks on the capital Kyiv and the northeastern city of Kharkiv also wounded dozens of people, caused widespread damage and hit power supplies, officials said.<\/p>\n
Russia has intensified its attacks over the New Year period, with President Vladimir Putin warning on Monday that a Ukrainian air strike<\/a> on the Russian city of Belgorod, which Moscow said killed 25 civilians, would \u201cnot go unpunished\u201d.<\/p>\n Smoke belched out of the charred side of a high-rise residential building in Kyiv where mayor Vitali Klitschko said an elderly woman was killed and 49 people hurt. Emergency services later recovered another corpse from the building.<\/p>\n A 91-year-old woman was killed in a missile strike on Kharkiv that also wounded dozens and a married couple was killed in an attack in the area around Kyiv, local officials said.<\/p>\n \u201cRussia will answer for every life [that it has] taken away,\u201d President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on the Telegram messenger.<\/p>\n Russia later said one man was killed and seven people injured in another attack on Belgorod.<\/p>\n