Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities were rocked by explosions overnight and in the early hours of Friday while air raid sirens were reported throughout the country, officials said.

Russia fired more than 20 cruise missiles and two drones at Kyiv and other parts of Ukraine, killing over 20 and striking a residential building in central Ukraine.

Speaking in the aftermath, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the attacks would lead to Russia's "failure and punishment."

Russia had regularly bombed Ukrainian cities and infrastructure last winter, but the volume of strikes reduced in the recent months. The capital city had not been targeted by missiles in more than 50 days.

There were no immediate reports of any successful strikes in Kyiv, but fragments from intercepted missiles or drones damaged power lines and a road in one neighborhood. No casualties were reported.

Just last week, Kyiv faced an attack by 12 Iranian-made drones, eight of which were shot down without causing any casualties.

Air defense systems are in operation in Kyiv, according to the city's military administration.

Ukraine's air defense system has been bolstered in recent months by the delivery of Western equipment crucial to the country's war effort. Kyiv received the American-made Patriot missile defense systems in April. 

In Uman, around 215 kilometers (134 miles) south of Kyiv, two cruise missiles hit a nine-story residential building, wounding over a dozen, according to Ukrainian national police. Three children were rescued from the rubble, they said. At least 17 people have died, the Interior Ministry said.

Two more people were killed in the city of Dnipro, city Mayor Borys Filatov said on the Telegram website, adding that the victims were a young woman and her 3-year-old child. 

Here are some of the other headlines concerning Russia's war in Ukraine on Friday, April 28:

Zelenskyy calls on Xi to help bring back deported Ukrainian children

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Friday he had asked his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping to aid in bringing back Ukrainian children deported by Russia. "We need to involve everyone... to put pressure on the Russian aggressor and the terrorists who kidnapped so many of our children," Zelenskyy said.

"The UN, many others want to do something, but so far the results have been poor. So I have appealed to the leader of China," he continued to say. 

Chinese President Xi Jinping and his Ukrainian counterpart spoke on Wednesday via phone. It was the first known call between the two heads of state since the start of Russia's invasion. 

Beijing has so far remained neutral in the Ukraine conflict, with Xi never condemning the Russian invasion. The Chinese head of state acted as mediator during his visit to Russian President Vladimir Putin in March. 

Putin is currently under an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court (ICC) over the "unlawful deportation" of Ukrainian children. According to Kyiv, over 16,000 Ukrainian children have been deported to Russia since the start of the invasion. It states many of them have been put in foster homes or institutions, while Russia insists it saved Ukrainian children from the war. 

UN experts condemn 'forced mobilization' of Crimean Tatars

A UN watchdog criticized Moscow over widespread "racist hate speech" targeting Ukrainians and called on Russia to protect the rights of Tatars in Russian-annexed Crimea. 

The UN experts urged Russia to "end the practice of forced mobilization and conscription of members of Crimean Tatars and indigenous peoples in Crimea in the ongoing armed conflict with Ukraine."

The UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) urged Moscow to investigate allegations of human rights violations committed during the invasion of Ukraine.

"The Committee was deeply concerned about the grave human rights violations committed during the ongoing armed conflict by the Russian Federation's military forces and private military companies ...," it said in a statement.

Russian-appointed leader of Donetsk says 7 killed in shelling

The Moscow-appointed leader of the eastern Ukrainian region of Donetsk said seven people were killed in shelling by Ukrainian forces. 

Denis Pushilin claimed that Ukraine hit "a hospital, a park and residential buildings."

"According to initial reports seven people, including a child, died after a bus was hit," he said.

Russia's deputy PM says visited Bakhmut

Marat Khusnullin, Russia's deputy prime minister, said on Friday that he had visited the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut, which has been almost completely destroyed.

"I visited Artemovsk," Khusnullin said on Telegram using the Russian name for Bakhmut. 

Khusnullin added that the city "is damaged, but it can be restored. We have the experience needed. As soon as the operational situation allows, we will go in and work, step by step."

The official shared a video showing a square covered with debris. The buildings visible in the video indicate that it was filmed in Bakhmut's Freedom Square, in the city's center. His claims could not be independently verified.

Pope to visit Ukrainian refugees on Hungary trip

Pope Francis is set to meet with some 35,000 Ukrainian refugees taking shelter in Hungary after 2.5 million people fled across Ukraine's border with the country in the early days of Russia's invasion.

The visit will allow the pope to raise immigration as a topic once more, and reiterate that European countries should open their arms and borders to those fleeing the war, albeit within their means.

Francis reached Hungary on Friday for a three-day trip during which the war in Ukraine, migration and Europe's Christian roots are expected to main the agenda in his public addresses and talks with Prime Minister Viktor Orban.

"We seem to be witnessing the sorry sunset of that choral dream of peace, as the solists of war now take over," Francis said. "At this historical juncture, Europe is crucial. It is called to take up its proper role, which is to unite those far apart, to welcome those other peoples and refuse to consider anyone an eternal enemy."

The trip to Hungary comes a day after Pope Francis hosted Ukraine's Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal at the Vatican.

Zelenskyy vows response to 'Russian terror'

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Friday condemned the latest bombardment across the country and vowed a response to the "Russian terror".

"Every such attack, every evil act against our country and people brings the terrorist state closer to failure and punishment, not vice versa, as they think. We will not forget any crime, we will not let any invader avoid responsibility," Zelenskyy said in a statement.

Also tweet images of the devastation in Uman on microblogging website Twitter, he called for stricter sanctions against Russia. "Evil can be stopped by weapons – our defenders are doing it. And it can be stopped by sanctions – global sanctions must be enhanced," he wrote. 

Russian vessel spotted near Nord Stream pipelines before explosion: report

The Russian SS-750 — a specialized underwater operations vessel equipped with a mini submarine — was spotted near the Nord Stream pipelines in the Baltic Sea a few days before explosions made them useless, according to Danish news publication The Information, citing unnamed government officials. 

The outlet cited sources within the Danish military command as saying that a patrol ship had taken 26 pictures of the vessel east of the island of Bornholm on September 22, 2022. This would corroborate earlier, similar reports on the ship's presence, including one published in Germany.

Four days later, the Nord Stream pipeline carrying gas from Russia to Germany was damaged in a series of explosions. Remnants of explosives were found on the damaged pipeline, according to Swedish authorities. 

Thought inoperable before the blasts, the Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 pipelines were full of natural gas and the explosion led to methane leaks. Germany, Sweden and Denmark have all launched investigations into the incident but have not found a perpetrator. Both Russia and western countries have implied the other side had reason to sabotage it.

The Danish publication quoted open-source intelligence analyst Oliver Alexander, saying: "This is clear confirmation. That vessel is part of Russia's readiness for submarines and underwater operations. In theory, that vessel may well have been there for other reasons, but the timing to be in exactly that place at that time is special."

More DW content on Russia's war in Ukraine

For weapons makers and defense companies, war is good for business. The war in Ukraine, as well as simmering geopolitical tensions in the South China Sea and elsewhere, has driven a surge in orders in the global defense sector. But windfall taxes are not on the agenda.

DW’s Nick Connolly traveled to the Donbas frontlines to find out how Ukraine's citizen-soldiers are dealing with life in the trenches, under constant fire. Watch the full report below.

fb, mk/msh (dpa, AP, Reuters, AFP)