Russia launches one of war's largest air attacks on Kyiv

Russia launched one of its largest air strikes on Kyiv in over three years of war and struck a maternity ward in the southern city of Odesa in attacks that killed at least three people, officials said on Tuesday.

The overnight strikes followed Russia's biggest drone assault of the war on Ukraine on Monday and were part of intensified bombardments in what Moscow says is retaliation for attacks by Ukrainian forces on Russia.

The Russian attack also damaged Saint Sophia Cathedral, a UNESCO world heritage site located in the historic centre of Kyiv, Ukrainian Culture Minister Mykola Tochytskyi said.

"The enemy struck at the very heart of our identity again," Tochytskyi wrote on Facebook about the site he called "the soul of all Ukraine".

Loud explosions shook Kyiv and blasts and fires lit up the sky in the early hours of Tuesday morning, leaving palls of heavy smoke over the city, Reuters witnesses said.

Authorities deployed two firefighting helicopters to douse flames.

One person died in the attack on Kyiv, city authorities said.

At least four people were treated in hospital after seven of the capital's 10 districts were hit, city officials said.

"Today was one of the largest attacks on Kyiv," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said. "Russian missile and Shahed (drone) strikes drown out the efforts of the United States and others around the world to force Russia into peace."

In Kyiv, Kateryna Zaitseva, 38, and her 14-year-old son looked at the rubble in their apartment, which received a direct hit by a drone. The explosion destroyed one room, damaged another and blew in the door of the bathroom in which they were hiding.

"We started moving blindly to the entrance door. I heard the voice of the emergency worker ... I shouted that there were two of us, that we were unhurt and he helped us," said Zaitseva, a laboratory technician.

In the southern port of Odesa, an overnight drone attack hit an emergency medical building, a maternity ward and residential buildings, regional governor Oleh Kiper said on Telegram.

Two men were killed in that attack but patients and staff were safely evacuated from the maternity hospital, he said.

Iryna Britkaru, 23, who gave birth to a girl on Jun 6, said projectiles had started hitting the building in Odesa as soon as she and other patients had been whisked to the basement by hospital staff.

"The third (impact) was already very loud, and shrapnel flew... (it) rained down in the corridor," she told Reuters.

Natalia Kovalenko, 34, who five days ago also gave birth to a girl, said she was hoping for an end to the war.

"If we don't have hope, then no one will be giving birth," she said.

Both sides deny targeting civilians but thousands of civilians have been killed in Europe's worst conflict since World War Two, the vast majority of them Ukrainian.

Russia's defence ministry confirmed that its forces had attacked military targets in Kyiv with high-precision weapons and drones overnight, Russia's TASS state news agency reported.

'A DIFFICULT NIGHT'

Air raid alerts in Kyiv and most Ukrainian regions lasted five hours until around 5am (0200 GMT), according to information released by the military.

"A difficult night for all of us," Timur Tkachenko, head of Kyiv's city military administration, said on Telegram.

Ukraine's air force said Russia had fired 315 drones across the country, of which 277 were downed. All seven missiles launched by Russia were also brought down, it said.

Moscow has intensified its attacks on Ukraine following Kyiv's strikes on strategic bombers at air bases inside Russia on Jun 1.

Moscow also blamed Kyiv for bridge explosions on the same day that killed seven and injured scores.

Over the past week, Russia has launched 1,451 drones and 78 missiles to attack Ukraine, according to Ukrainian air force data.

Russia temporarily halted flights overnight at four airports serving Moscow, at St Petersburg's Pulkovo Airport and at airports in nine other cities after the defence ministry said Ukraine had launched more drones at Russia, officials said.

Most flights were restored later on Tuesday. No damage was reported.

Zelensky urged Ukraine's allies to take steps to force Russia into peace, and Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha called for immediate new sanctions and air defence systems.

Although Moscow and Kyiv have held two rounds of direct peace talks in recent weeks, the only tangible progress has been an agreement on exchanges of prisoners of war, and Russia has continued to advance along the front line in eastern Ukraine.

Moscow and Kyiv blame each other for the lack of progress towards ending the war, which has raged since Russia's full-scale invasion in February 2022.

US President Donald Trump has expressed frustration with both sides.