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Zelenskiy: Two dead in strike on rail hub of Pavlohrad
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Ukraine says it shot down 15 of 18 cruise missiles
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'Everything was on fire,' says terrified resident
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Moscow says it targeted Ukraine's military industry
(Adds Zelenskiy address, U.S.-Ukraine talks)
By Ivan Lubysh-Kirdey
PAVLOHRAD, Ukraine, May 1 (Reuters) - Russia unleashed a fresh volley of missiles on Ukraine overnight in a city in the east, killing two people, setting off huge blazes and damaging dozens of homes and other buildings.
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy announced the two deaths in his nightly video address, vowing: "The Russian occupiers will receive our answer for every such strike.
"The terrorists' missiles took the lives of two people, very young men," Zelenskiy said. "Forty other people - women, children, men, were treated for wounds and injuries."
Zelenskiy also said a 14-year-boy was killed near his school when it was hit by a bomb in the Chernihiv region, close to the Russian border.
The attack on Pavlohrad, a city and railway hub, came during the second wave of nationwide missile strikes in three days, with Moscow apparently reviving its winter tactic of long-range strikes ahead of a planned Ukrainian counteroffensive.
A huge crater had been blasted in the backyard of a house that was strewn with debris on the outskirts of Pavlohrad in southeastern Ukraine, around 100 kilometres (62 miles) from the front line. Homes nearby were badly damaged. In the city centre, the windows of a dormitory that serves a chemical plant had been blown out.
"I ran outside and saw the garage was destroyed. Everything was on fire, glass shards were everywhere. Had we been outside, we would have been killed," said resident Olha Lytvynenko, 61.
Viktoriia Suprun, 41, said she had taken cover with her daughter in the hallway of the dormitory.
"We rushed to the hallway, laid on the floor. And then the explosion wave twisted the door. Had we stayed for five more seconds, we would have been trapped here," she said.
Mykola Lukashuk, head of the Dnipropetrovsk region council, said the attack had damaged 19 apartment blocks, 25 houses, three schools, three kindergartens and several shops. The wounded included five children, the region's governor said.
RUSSIA SAYS IT TARGETS THE MILITARY
Russia's defence ministry said its forces had struck using high-precision long-range air and sea-based missiles against "Ukraine's military-industrial facilities".
"The objectives of the strike were achieved," it said in a statement. "The work of enterprises making ammunition, weapons and military equipment for Ukrainian troops has been disrupted."