KYIV, Ukraine: Ukraine officials in the southern region of Zaporizhzhia said Monday that two people had been killed by Russian missiles as authorities in several regions urged residents to shelter from a fresh Russian missile barrage.

Nearly half of Ukraine’s energy grid has been destroyed by recent Russian missile strikes and Kyiv last week had warned of a fresh wave of attacks.

“As a result of enemy missile attacks on the village of Novosofiivka in the Zaporizhzhia district, several private houses were damaged. Preliminarily, two people were killed,” the head of the Zaporizhzhia region Oleksandr Starukh said.

In a later update, the Ukraine presidency said that three people were injured in that attack.

AFP journalists in the capital reported disruptions to electricity services there. The head of the Kyiv region Oleksiy Kuleba said air defence systems were operating to knock out Russian missiles and called on residents to remain in shelters.

Officials in several other regions echoed that call for people to heed air raid sirens and take cover including the southern region of Mykolaiv and in Poltava in the centre of the country.

The strikes also left several cities without power, including Mykolaiv and the eastern city of Sumy, officials said.

In the southern city of Odessa, the water services operator said “there is no water supply anywhere” and officials in the central city of Kryvyi Rig said “parts of the city are cut off from electricity, several boiler and pumping stations are disconnected.”