The centre of the capital was struck during its rush hour for the third day in the last week, by kamikaze drones, often known as suicide drones. They tend to hover above a target before attacking – their explosives detonate when coming into contact with anything else.
“All night and all morning, the enemy terrorises the civilian population. Kamikaze drones and missiles are attacking all of Ukraine,” the country’s president Volodymyr Zelenskyy wrote on the Telegram messaging app.
The head of the president’s staff Andriy Yermak said the attacks show Russia’s “desperation”.
At least one person has died and three others were injured in the Kyiv attacks alone, after Russia went after residential buildings, according to mayor Vitali Klitschko.
Air raid sirens went off before the first explosion, urging the public to take cover. It’s thought there were a total of four explosions this morning.
Until last week, Moscow had not targeted Kyiv for months, ever since its attempts to seize the capital failed in the early days of the war.
However, after the bridge connecting Crimea to Russia was destroyed, the Kremlin blamed Ukraine and renewed its offensives.
Across the rest of the country, “hundreds of localities” were left without electricity, according to the Ukrainian prime minister Denys Chmygal said.
Here are just some of the alarming images to emerge from the capital.
The port city of Mykolaiv was attacked too, where tanks containing sunflower oil were set on fire by similar drones.
It’s not entirely clear what Russia is trying to attack with the use of these drones, although the country could be targeting Ukraine’s energy infrastructure.
Russian president Vladimir Putin had said there was no need for more strikes on Ukraine earlier this week, announcing “we now have other tasks”.