At least one dead in Russian strikes on Kyiv

Russian strikes on Kyiv killed at least one person, authorities said on Thursday, after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned of Moscow launching another massive attack overnight.

"Sadly, one death has been confirmed," the Kyiv city military administration wrote on Telegram in the early hours of Thursday.

"The enemy is attacking the capital with ballistic weapons. The threat of further attack remains present. Stay in shelters!" Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko said earlier.

Klitschko reported fires in several districts of the city.

Air raid sirens sounded in the Ukrainian capital, and several explosions were heard afterwards, according to an AFP journalist.

"The Russians prepared a massive attack several days ago, and there is a high probability that the strike will be carried out tonight," Zelensky said in a post on X late Wednesday.

"Please, in all regions of Ukraine, pay attention to air raid alerts today and stay safe."

Zelensky also repeated his request to Ukraine's allies to supply Kyiv with the missiles its air defence system lacks.

Zelensky spoke on Tuesday with his American counterpart Donald Trump at the White House and discussed the possibility of Ukraine producing Patriot interceptors.

In early July, Trump had expressed his intention to allow Ukraine to make these surface-to-air missiles, at a time when Russia had stepped up its ballistic missile strikes.

Only the American Patriot systems are capable of shooting them down, but Ukraine is desperately short of PAC-3 interceptor missiles.

This shortage has also worsened since the war launched by the United States and Israel against Iran in February.

AFP