Russian missile attack kills two, seriously injures many in Ukraine's Kryvyi Rih

A Russian missile smashed into a hotel in the central Ukrainian city of Kryvyi Rih late on Wednesday, killing two people and injuring 29, many of them seriously hurt, a municipal official said.

Twenty of the 29 injured in the strike were in serious conditions and rescue operations proceeded past midnight, Oleksandr Vilkul, head of the city's military administration, said on the Telegram messaging app.

Ukraine's Emergency Services, also posting on Telegram, said 14 people had been rescued from rubble at the hotel which suffered heavy damage.

They posted pictures of crews making their way through piles of rubble outside the floodlit five-storey building and clambering up and down ladders.

Smoke billowed from the top of the hotel and virtually all its windows had been blown out. A crane was deployed to reach upper levels.

Kryvyi Rih, home town of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, has been a frequent target since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine three years ago.