ISTANBUL

China on Monday urged the easing of tension in Ukraine as Russian missiles hit the country’s capital Kyiv.

“China hopes the situation will ease as soon as possible,” Mao Ning, China’s Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, told a news conference in Beijing.

“China always maintains that the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all countries should be respected and that legitimate security concerns should be taken seriously,” Chinese daily Global Times quoted Mao.

Beijing’s statement came after at least eight people were killed in Ukraine’s capital early on Monday in a Russian strike on several cities, according to the country's authorities.

At least 24 people were injured in the shelling of Shevchenkivskyi, an urban district in Kyiv, said the Ukrainian Interior Ministry.

Earlier, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced that there were dead and wounded among the victims of the missile strikes, urging residents to remain in shelters.

Multiple explosions were reported in the Ukrainian cities of Zhytomyr, Khmelnytsky, Dnipro, Lviv, Ternopil, and Kyiv, a day after Russian President Vladimir Putin accused Ukrainian intelligence of carrying out what he said was a "terrorist attack" on the Kerch Bridge – Russia’s critical connection to Crimea.