Russian missile and drone strikes hit Kiev causing multiple deaths

At least eight people were killed in Ukraine's capital Kiev after renewed Russian missile and drone strikes, President Volodymyr Zelensky said early on Thursday.

Among the dead was a child, Zelensky wrote on X. Another 38 people were injured, including several children, the Kyiv Independent reported, citing Mayor Vitali Klitschko. Among the injured, 30 were hospitalized.

"These Russian missiles and attack drones today are a clear response to everyone in the world who, for weeks and months, has been calling for a ceasefire and for real diplomacy," Zelensky said.

"Russia chooses ballistics instead of the negotiating table. It chooses to continue killing instead of ending the war," he added.

News agency RBC-Ukraine reported extensive damage and multiple fires. Photos showed collapsed buildings, piles of debris and burned-out cars.

Klitschko earlier said air defences were active and that a Russian drone fell into the courtyard of a nine-story residential building but did not detonate.

Blasts were also reported in the northern city of Sumy and the southern city of Zaporizhzhia late on Wednesday.

The Kyiv Independent early on Thursday reported that residents of almost all parts of the country were ordered to take shelter, even far from the front line.

According to the report, several waves of combat drones, hypersonic missiles and at least one cruise missile were deployed.

Meanwhile, air raid alerts were briefly issued in Russia's Lipetsk region due to incoming Ukrainian drones, the state news agency TASS reported.

The Russian military reported the launch of Ukrainian drones over the Rostov, Belgorod and Smolensk regions and over the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea. Volgograd airport restricted operations as a precaution.

Russia has been waging a war against Ukraine for more than three and a half years.