ISTANBUL

The death toll in Ukraine’s capital Kyiv from Russian air strikes targeting multiple regions of the country on Friday has risen to 28, local officials declared on Monday.

"Unfortunately, the bodies of those killed as a result of the missile strikes are still being found. Rescuers retrieved another body from under the rubble," Serhiy Popko, the head of the Kyiv City Military Administration, announced in a statement on Telegram.

In an earlier statement, Popko said that the number of those killed had risen to 27 after four more bodies were recovered from under the rubble.

Indicating that search and rescue operations in the capital are still ongoing, Popko further said that 30 people were injured in the airstrikes.

Separately, Ukraine’s State Emergency Service (DSNS) said that it found the bodies of eight people in Kyiv’s Shevchenkivskyi district during the past day.

At least 40 people were killed in various regions of Ukraine after a massive air attack by Russian forces on Friday, which President Volodymyr Zelenskyy described as the "heaviest attack" so far by Moscow.

Following the attack, Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said that a day of mourning would be observed in the capital on Jan. 1.