STORY: Familiar sounds blared over Kyiv’s skyline early on Tuesday (January 23) morning.

Sirens signalling a mass Russian air strike targeting Ukraine’s biggest cities, the capital itself and Kharkiv in the east, local officials said.

Deadly strikes hit 30 apartment buildings in Kharkiv according to the region’s mayor.

Dozen were wounded as buildings were levelled and a gas pipeline damaged, state energy firm Naftogaz said.

Rescue workers scrambled over rubble for signs of life. This man pulled from the wreckage by paramedics.

A relative gives the good news to someone over the phone – he’s alive.

Homes like that of Valentyna Klimova’s obliterated.

“When the missile attack started, I kneeled down near the washing machine. Look, something hit me here, glass. But I’m alive. Still, people died, and my flat is gone.”

Back in Kyiv, the capital’s mayor reported dozens, including children had been wounded as apartments and non-residential buildings caught fire.

Reuters journalists reported hearing waves of explosions in and around the area as residents like Svitlana rushed to take cover.

“We managed to get down to the shelter on time. The sports complex was hit. I am worried – our house was damaged too. All the windows are broken, but thank God we are alive and well and it is the most important.”

Ukraine’s air force said the military had destroyed 21 out of 41 missiles of various types fired by Russia.

Kyiv has repeatedly called for higher quantities of advanced air defense systems from Western partners as it struggles to defend itself from Russian strikes.

The Kremlin said Tuesday the country’s military does not target civilians.

Spokesperson Dmitry Peskov denied the attack was Moscow’s response to what Russia said was a recent Ukrainian artillery attack on the Russian controlled-city of Donetsk that killed 27 people.

Thousands of Ukrainian civilians have been killed or injured by Russian air strikes and shelling since President Vladimir Putin sent tens of thousands of soldiers into Ukraine nearly two years ago.