Kiev

Russian forces launched a major drone assault on Kiev overnight as well as attacking other regions, Ukrainian officials said early Tuesday, but there were no immediate reports of casualties.

"New massive air attack on the capital," wrote the Kiev City Military Administration, adding that it was the first attack on the city in 18 days to use Iranian-made Shahed explosive drones.

Ukraine said Friday it withstood a wave of Russian missiles including hypersonic Kinzhals, which were downed over the Kiev region where African leaders were due to hold talks as part of a peace mission.

"Russian missiles are a message to Africa: Russia wants more war, not peace," Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said.

Russian forces Thursday shelled a southern Ukrainian city inundated by flooding in a catastrophic dam collapse, Ukrainian officials said, forcing a suspension of some rescue efforts hours after President Volodymyr Zelenskyy went to the area to assess the damage.

Ukraine was evacuating thousands of people Wednesday after an attack on a major Russian-held dam unleashed a torrent of water, inundating two dozen villages and sparking fears of a humanitarian disaster.

Russian forces began June with a fresh aerial bombardment of Kiev on Thursday, killing at least three people and wounding others, authorities said.

Following a reported 17 drone and missile attacks on the Ukrainian capital in May, Russian forces hit the capital in the early morning with ground-launched missiles.

Russia launched a pre-dawn air raid on Ukraine's capital on May 30, killing at least one person and sending Kiev's residents again scrambling into shelters to escape a relentless wave of daylight and nighttime bombardments, while Moscow authorities said the Russian capital was attacked by drones.

Ukraine's capital was subjected to the largest drone attack since the start of Russia's war, local officials said, as Kiev prepared to mark the anniversary of its founding on Sunday. At least one person was killed.

One civilian has died in Kiev after a "massive" drone attack on the Ukrainian capital, the city's mayor Vitali Klitschko said Sunday.

"A 35-year-old woman was hospitalised, a 41-year-old man died," the mayor and former boxer said on Telegram, reporting that drone wreckage had crashed near a petrol station.

Loud explosions were heard in Kiev early Thursday morning, and the city's Military Administration said falling debris caused a fire in a non-residential building.

The scope of the Russian attack against the capital was unclear, and there was no immediate information on casualties.

Ukrainian air defenses thwarted an intense Russian air attack on Kiev early Tuesday, shooting down all 18 missiles aimed at the capital, as European leaders sought new ways to punish Russia for the war and a Chinese envoy sought traction for Beijing's peace proposal.