Air raid alarm announced in central, eastern Ukraine

Air raid alarms were announced in several regions in central and eastern Ukraine due to the threat of missile attacks, local authorities said on Wednesday.

Officials from the Poltava, Kharkiv, Zaporizhzhya, and Dnipropetrovsk regions said there is a strong possibility of Russian airstrikes, urging civilians to take shelter.

The alerts are issued by local authorities in Ukraine almost on a daily basis due to possible missile and drone strikes which have recently targeted civilian and energy infrastructures.

Russian forces launched a new series of airstrikes on Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities over the past weeks, after an explosion hit Russia's key Kerch Bridge to the Crimean Peninsula.

Moscow launched its "special military operation" in Ukraine in February, which besides casualties and displacements, led to an energy crisis and affected the global economy.