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By Rachel Pannett and Ellen Francis<\/p>\n
Air raid sirens sounded across Ukraine early Tuesday, including in the capital, Kyiv, a day after strikes killed 19 people and injured more than 100, emergency services said.<\/p>\n
Western allies were quick to condemn the Monday attacks, but it was not clear whether they would all speed up or expand their military aid as the pace of conflict escalates.<\/p>\n
As air raid sirens blared in the capital, Kyiv, the regional governor, Oleksiy Kuleba, said air defenses shot down at least one missile. In a message on Telegram, he urged residents to stay in shelters.<\/p>\n
Mykolaiv\u2019s governor said air defenses downed missiles in the southern region, and the State Emergency Service said missiles hit Zaporizhzhia in southeastern Ukraine, sparking a fire and killing at least one person. The Washington Post could not immediately verify details of the strikes.<\/p>\n
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is set to address an emergency virtual meeting of the Group of Seven nations Tuesday. His calls for better air defense systems and longer-range weapons intensified after the strikes tore through busy streets and knocked out power, as Moscow pledged retaliation for a blast on Russia\u2019s bridge to Crimea.<\/p>\n
A missile strike left nearly a third of the western Ukrainian city of Lviv without electricity on Tuesday, according to the city\u2019s mayor. Lviv is a major city near the Polish border and is far from the war\u2019s front lines.<\/p>\n
In Kharkiv, a city that suffered devastating bombardment during earlier periods of this war, news that it was happening again in major cities \u2013 even if just for a day \u2013 had an impact.<\/p>\n
Life goes on, but lingering traumas don\u2019t fade. In central Kharkiv, a woman said she barely left her child\u2019s side during Monday\u2019s citywide blackout.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe couldn\u2019t leave her alone. We couldn\u2019t let her go outside,\u201d 47-year-old Inna Varchenko told The Washington Post as she took 11-year-old Valeria to run errands.<\/p>\n
Wrapped in a pink raincoat, the little girl stood close by her mother, hugging her at times as we spoke. \u201cWe lived in this city through everything,\u201d Varchenko said, looking down at her daughter. \u201cThat means she saw everything, she heard everything. Really, she\u2019s still scared.\u201d<\/p>\n
President Biden promised continued aid for Kyiv in a Monday call with Zelensky, according to a White House statement that didn\u2019t include time frames. A meeting of Nato defense ministers will also discuss Ukraine\u2019s pleas for weapons later this week.<\/p>\n Russian President Vladimir Putin will meet International Atomic Energy Agency chief Rafael Mariano Grossi on Tuesday, the Kremlin said. The UN watchdog is seeking a buffer zone at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant in Ukraine, which Russian forces control.<\/p>\n The first of four air defense systems long promised by Germany to Ukraine will be ready for deployment within the \u201cnext few days,\u201d Berlin\u2019s Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht says.<\/p>\n In a statement issued on Monday, Lambrecht explicitly linked the need for a speedy delivery of the weapons to Moscow\u2019s renewed strikes on non-military targets across Ukraine in recent days. The systems, capable of protecting an entire city, had initially been scheduled for delivery by the end of the year.<\/p>\n \u201cRussia\u2019s attacks with missiles and drones terrorize the civilian population in particular. That is why we are now providing support especially with air defense weapons,\u201d she said in a statement \u2013 adding that the three remaining systems would follow.<\/p>\n Moscow\u2019s latest wave of attacks \u2013 which it described as a punishment for Saturday\u2019s explosion on the Crimean Bridge \u2013 are a sign that the war is entering a new escalatory phrase and adds to the pressure on Ukraine\u2019s western allies to boost their military support for Kyiv.<\/p>\n The IRIS-T SLM is a German-made surface-to-air missile system with a range of 25 miles, capable of destroying enemy objects flying at altitudes of up to 12 miles into the sky.<\/p>\n * The Washington Post\u2019s Louisa Loveluck contributed to this report from Kharkiv.<\/p>\n