KYIV (Reuters) – A Russian missile strike damaged a nine-storey residential building in the central Ukrainian city of Dnipro on Friday, causing a number of casualties, the regional governor said.

A photograph published by Governor Serhiy Lysak on the Telegram messaging app and other images circulated on social media showed a badly damaged building that had smoke rising from a gaping hole in its upper four storeys.

Dnipro, which had a pre-war population of almost one million people, is a major Ukrainian city that lies on the road to the east of the country where the most intense fighting with Russian forces is raging.

It has been regularly targeted by missile and drone strikes since Russia launched its February 2022 invasion. Russia denies targeting civilians and civilian infrastructure, but thousands of people have been killed.

(Reporting by Yuliia Dysa; Writing by Tom Balmforth; Editing by Peter Graff)