“No information on casualties or injuries has been reported so far,” the air force added.
The escalation comes after U.S. President Joe Biden last weekend authorized the use of American-supplied long-range missiles by Kyiv to strike targets inside Russia, finally responding to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s demands that Western allies loosen restrictions on donated weapons.
The Kremlin warned there would be consequences for the move.
In Britain, a No. 10 Downing Street spokesperson said: “The reports coming out of Ukraine overnight are deeply concerning, but as you’ll understand it’s a rapidly developing situation. I don’t want to get ahead of our intelligence services, who are looking at these reports urgently, but if true, clearly, this would be another example of depraved, reckless and escalatory behavior from Russia … [it] only serves to strengthen our resolve.”
Ukraine also reportedly fired British Storm Shadow cruise missiles at targets on Russian territory this week. Russia, for its part, has bombarded Ukraine with Iranian killer drones and North Korean missiles during its 1,000-day invasion.
Emilio Casalicchio in London contributed to this report.