Massive Russian attack on cities across Ukraine kills at least 14 people

A Russian missile and drone attack has killed at least 14 people across Ukraine, nine in Dnipro and five in the capital Kyiv, marking one of Moscow's largest assaults in recent months.

Dozens were also injured, including several children, after the overnight air strikes hit apartment blocks, with emergency crews racing to find people feared trapped beneath rubble in Kyiv.

Air raid warnings were in place across most of Ukraine in the early hours of Tuesday.

Russia's defence ministry said the strikes had been a response to previous Ukrainian attacks, saying in a statement that the "strike objectives" had all been achieved.

Moscow last week warned it would launch "systematic strikes" after accusing Kyiv of a deadly attack on a student dormitory in an occupied part of eastern Ukraine.

Kyiv said it had hit a Russian military unit.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had warned a "massive strike" was possible in his nightly video address on Monday, and urged residents to pay special attention to air raid alerts.

On Tuesday morning, Zelensky said Russia had launched 656 strike drones and 73 missiles of various types - ballistic, cruise, and anti-ship - in the overnight attack.

"We urgently need help from the United States in supplying missiles for Patriot systems", the Ukrainian president said, referring to interception hardware used to intercept Russian missiles.

Patriot missiles have been in short supply, exacerbated by the US and Israeli war against Iran.

Since returning to power last year, Trump has also stopped direct supplies to Ukraine, so Kyiv's European allies have been buying them from the US before sending them to Ukraine.

"The main strike was on Kyiv, where dozens of residential buildings and other purely civilian infrastructure were damaged again," Zelensky said.

A child was among nine people killed after a strike "essentially demolished" part of a four-storey apartment building in Dnipro, he added, with a rescue operation ongoing for six missing people.

More than 70 people were injured across both cities, while Kharkiv in the north-east - which also saw its energy facilities and civilian infrastructure hit - reported 10 injured, including a child.

An industrial facility was also attacked further south in Zaporizhzhia as regions across the country were targeted, the president said.

Large plumes of smoke could be seen rising from the centre of the capital on Tuesday, where the head of its military administration warned ballistic missiles had been fired and the city's Mayor Vitali Klitschko urged residents to stay in shelters.

The buzz of drones could be heard between more than a dozen loud explosions as strikes made impact through the early morning.

The attack caused fires near a petrol station, a construction site, and several apartment blocks, as well as two houses, Klitschko said. Blackouts were also been reported across the city.

Since a brief ceasefire expired in May, Russia has launched several waves of missile and drone attacks on Kyiv, among them strikes on a block of flats that killed 24 people, including three children.

Days later, Ukraine responded with an attack on the Moscow region which Russian officials said had killed three people - which Zelensky said was "entirely justified".

Ukraine said Russia's threats were "nothing short of shameless blackmail" and urged allies to increase pressure on Moscow, which launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.