Ukraine said it shot down two missiles and 60 drones in nine regions in an overnight strike, following Russia's stepped-up attacks on Ukraine's energy infrastructure earlier this week.
More than two and a half years after Russia's full-scale invasion, Kiev is asking Western countries for additional air defenses and help in jointly shooting down targets over Ukraine to repel such attacks.
Ukraine destroyed 60 of the 74 attack drones and two of the five missiles launched by Russia on Thursday. The air force said 14 more drones were missing, likely having fallen on Ukrainian territory.
Russia launched its third attack on the Ukrainian capital in four days, with around 15 drones missing their targets, Kiev's military administrator, Serhiy Popko, said on Thursday.
In a statement after Russia's latest airstrikes on Ukraine, which took place mostly at night, Popko said drone debris had destroyed apartment windows and doors and sparked fires in non-residential buildings which were then extinguished.
Kyiv Oblast Governor Ruslan Kravchenko said the drones did not damage any critical infrastructure in the Kyiv region, and city and regional authorities reported no casualties.
Falling debris also caused a fire on the premises of a private company in the central part of the city, the Cherkasy region governor said.
About 75 rescuers battled the fire, which had spread to 29,000 square feet by Thursday morning, according to Ukraine's National Emergency Service.
Russia, which launched a full-scale invasion in February 2022, launched airstrikes on energy facilities across Ukraine on Monday, using more than 200 missiles and drones, Ukrainian officials said.
New attacks on the power grid have forced Kyiv to resort to emergency and rolling blackouts this week to try to stabilise the system.
