Russia fired four missiles into the southern Ukrainian port city of Mykolaiv overnight, demolishing half an apartment building and killing one resident, a day after it unleashed a barrage of missiles on several cities including the capital Kyiv.

Axar.az reports citing Reuters that rescue workers recovered the body of an elderly woman from the rubble of the apartment block early on Tuesday, Reuters witnesses said.

As the rush hour was underway, passersby walked past a two-storey school, the front of which was torn off by the force of the blast that left a massive crater.

"This is what the barbarian horde does," said Irena Siden, 48, the school’s deputy director, standing in front of the gutted building as workers began sweeping up the rubble.

"They (the Russians) are the descendants of the barbarian horde. They stole our history and how they are trying to steal our culture."

Russian President Vladimir Putin said missile strikes on several Ukrainian cities on Monday which targeted infrastructure and a decision to freeze participation in a Black Sea grain export programme were responses to a drone attack on Moscow's fleet in Crimea that he blamed on Ukraine.

Putin told a news conference on Monday that Ukrainian drones had used the same marine corridors that grain ships transited under the U.N.-brokered deal.