Ukrainian authorities said that Russian drones and missiles had pounded the Ukrainian capital Kiev and other cities early on Tuesday, killing at least 18 people and wounding more than 100 following days of warnings about Moscow's plans for a major assault.
AFP journalists in the capital heard air raid sirens wailing over the city before a series of loud explosions that lasted throughout the night sent residents with bags and blankets rushing to shelter in crowded metro stations.
The Ukrainian air force said Russia had launched 73 missiles and 656 drones, adding it had downed 602 of the drones and 40 of the missiles.
Moscow has bombarded Ukraine almost daily since launching its invasion in February 2022, a war that is now the bloodiest on European soil since World War II, with hundreds of thousands killed and millions displaced.
Russia said on Tuesday that it had carried out a huge strike, including with hypersonic missiles, targeting Ukraine's military-industrial complex.
Moscow denies that its forces target civilians.
But Kiev Mayor Vitali Klitschko said six people were killed and at least 66 were wounded, including two children.
Authorities in the industrial city of Dnipro said at least 12 people were killed and dozens more wounded in the attack, adding that rescue operations were still underway.
Journalists saw explosions and huge plumes of smoke billowing across Kiev's skyline at dawn, while rescue workers cleared debris beneath multi-storey residential buildings gutted in the attack.
At least one part of the city was cut from electricity in the attack, AFP reporters said.
Fifteen people, including a child, were also wounded in the eastern city of Kharkiv that lies near the Russian border, according to the mayor, Igor Terekhov.
Russia says overnight strike a response to Kiev's 'terrorist acts'
The Russian defence ministry, meanwhile, said on Tuesday that its overnight strike on Ukraine was a response to what it called "terrorist acts" against targets inside Russia and said it had struck a range of Ukrainian military targets.
"Overnight, in response to terrorist acts of the Kiev regime, the armed forces of the Russian Federation carried out a massive strike using high-precision long-range air-, land-, and sea-based weapons," the Russian defence ministry said in a statement.
It said Russia had used hypersonic missiles and drones to attack seven Ukrainian regions including Kiev, Zaporizhzhia and Kharkiv, successfully targeting sites useful to the Ukrainian armed forces such as fuel and transport facilities and military airfields.
The Kremlin warned last week that Russia would start to carry out "systematic strikes" on targets in Kiev in retaliation for what it said was a devastating Ukrainian drone attack on a student dormitory in Russian-held Luhansk in eastern Ukraine, which killed 21 people.
Ukraine said it had targeted a drone command centre in the area not students. Putin said on Monday evening that Kiev had "opened a new page in a series of crimes" with the dormitory strike and with a later strike on an apartment building in a Russian-held part of Ukraine's Kherson region. Both sides deny deliberately targeting civilians.
'Protect your lives'
Meanwhile, a Ukrainian drone strike killed one person in Russia's Kursk region, near the Ukrainian border, regional governor Alexander Khinshtein said.
Another drone sparked a fire at an oil refinery in the southwestern city of Krasnodar, its operational headquarters said on Telegram.
The strikes on Ukraine came after Zelenskyy said on Friday "we have intelligence information about Russia preparing a new massive strike" and called for people to "protect your lives".
"Please pay attention to air alerts, protect your lives. Our services are working efficiently and are prepared; the Air Force and other defenders of our skies will be on duty 24/7, as always."
The Ukrainian president has reiterated his call to allies to allow and finance the supply of Patriot missiles, which can intercept Russian ballistic missiles.
He wrote to US President Donald Trump and the US Congress last week asking for Patriot systems to respond to the intensifying Russian air attacks.
Ukraine has also stepped up its strikes on occupied territories and on Russia in retaliation for the daily Russian bombardments.
