Russia launches new airstrikes as deal to move exports out of Ukraine is extended

Russia pounded Ukrainian energy facilities and a huge rocket booster factory on Thursday in a new wave of missile strikes that Ukrainian officials denounced as terrorism.

Explosions were heard in several parts of the country, including the southern port of Odesa, the capital Kyiv, the central city of Dnipro and the southeastern region of Zaporizhzhia, where officials said two people were killed.

Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said targets included the huge Pivdenmash defence plant in Dnipro, though he gave no details of any damage, and state energy company Naftogaz said gas production facilities in east Ukraine had been damaged or destroyed in a "massive" missile strike.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy posted video footage, apparently shot from a car camera, showing a driver's journey through Dnipro being interrupted by a huge blast ahead that sent flames and black smoke pouring into the sky.

"No matter what the terrorists want, no matter what they try to achieve, we must get through this winter and be even stronger in the spring than we are now, even more ready for the liberation of our entire territory than we are now," said Zelenskyy.

At least 15 people were wounded in Dnipro, three were hurt in the northeastern city of Kharkiv and at least one was injured in Odesa, local officials said. Ukrainian officials also reported fierce fighting in parts of eastern Ukraine.

Russia has stepped up attacks on Ukrainian energy facilities in recent weeks in some of the heaviest missile strikes since invading Ukraine in February. Many Ukrainians are subject to rolling blackouts as a result.

Ukraine has said that its air defences have knocked out many of the missiles and drones fired in the last few weeks. Kyiv city officials said four missiles and five Iranian-made Shahed drones were destroyed near the city on Thursday.

The latest attacks prompted Ukrainian officials to make new calls for its international allies to send more air defence systems. 

On Wednesday, the top U.S. general, Army Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, played down chances of any outright military victory for Kyiv in the near term, saying Russia still had significant combat power in Ukraine despite setbacks.

But Milley and Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin both said the United States would support Ukraine for "as long as it takes."

The missiles came a day after Western leaders met both at the G20 in Indonesia and at a NATO session in Brussels, agreeing that Tuesday's blast at a grain facility in Przewodow, Poland, near the Ukrainian border, was likely an errant Ukrainian anti-aircraft defence missile.

Zelenskyy demurred, saying, "I have no doubt that it was not our missile," Ukrainian media reported on Wednesday. He said he based his conclusion on reports from Ukraine's military, which he "cannot but trust."

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