Russian strikes have pounded a military factory near Kyiv that makes the missiles Ukraine claims it used to sink the Moskva naval flagship. 

The Vizar military factory outside Kyiv, the Ukrainian capital, was partially destroyed in the overnight Russian strikes, according to an AFP reporter at the scene.

It comes as Moscow on Friday vowed renewed attacks on the capital.

Russia had earlier announced it had used Kalibr sea-based long-range missiles to hit the factory, which Ukraine’s state weapons manufacturer Ukroboronprom says produced Neptune missiles.

“There were five hits. My employee was in the office and got thrown off his feet by the blast,” Andrei Sizov, a 47-year-old owner of a nearby wood workshop, said. 

Read more from Nataliya Vasilyeva here. 

3. Russian soldiers accused of digging up buried bodies 

Russian troops have been accused of digging up the buried bodies of “people killed by them” in the destroyed port city of Mariupol, with the aim of preventing new burials. 

“A watchman has been assigned to each courtyard and is not allowing Mariupol residents to lay to rest dead relatives or friends,” the city’s council said in a statement on the Telegram messaging app. 

“Why the exhumation is being carried out and where the bodies will be taken is unknown.” 

The claim could not be independently verified.

4. UN warns civilians are starving to death 

The United Nations has pleaded for access to Ukrainians trapped in war zones, saying those besieged are starving to death.

The body’s food-assistance branch, World Food Programme (WFP), which has been operating in Ukraine since the start of the conflict, says it has delivered food assistance to 1.4 million people.

It has not been allowed access to conflict zones, including the southern port city of Mariupol, and the heavily-shelled Mykolaiv east of Odessa.

“We’re calling on everyone to give us the access we need to reach the people in besieged cities,” WFP Executive Director David Beasley said in a statement.

“It’s one thing when people are suffering from the devastation of war. It’s another thing when they’re being starved to death.”

5. Seven Kharkiv civilians killed in strike 

Russian strikes on the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv killed seven people and left another 34 injured, the region’s governor said on Friday. 

It comes as Moscow’s forces ramped up attacks.  

“The occupiers fired on a residential area in Kharkiv. Unfortunately, 34 people were injured, including three children. Seven people died; one among the dead was a child,” Oleg Synegubov said on social media.