Russia trying to 'wipe us off', says Zelenskyy as explosions rock Ukraine

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said there were dead and wounded in blasts that rocked cities across Ukraine

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said there were dead and wounded in blasts that rocked cities across Ukraine on Monday and accused Russia of trying to wipe his country "off the face of the earth."

"They are trying to destroy us and wipe us off the face of the earth...destroy our people who are sleeping at home in (the city of) Zaporizhzhia. Kill people who go to work in Dnipro and Kyiv," Zelenskiy said on the Telegram messaging app.

"The air raid sirens do not subside throughout Ukraine.

There are missiles hitting. Unfortunately, there are dead and wounded."

(Reporting in Melbourne by Lidia Kelly and by Kyiv Newsroom, Editing by Timothy Heritage)