Russian missile and drone attack kills two in Kyiv, officials say

At least two people were killed in Russia's overnight missile and drone attack on Kyiv, which struck several districts of the capital, the city military administration said. The casualties occurred in the Darnytskyi district, according to Reuters.

Explosions were first heard in Kyiv at around 3:15am local time on Wednesday, after Ukraine's air force warned that Russian Tu-95 bombers were approaching the border, the Kyiv Independent reported. Witnesses described at least ten to twelve blasts in the first wave, with a second wave of strikes heard roughly two hours later, around 5:15am.

Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko said a strike hit an unspecified non-residential area in the Obolon district, while warehouse facilities were hit in the Podil district. Missile debris also fell and burned in the Shevchenkivskyi and Darnytskyi districts, though the full extent of the damage was not immediately clear.

The attack began after an earlier air-raid alert sounded from 9:09pm to 9:58pm on Tuesday evening, triggered when drones were detected heading towards the capital, Ukraine's air force said. It came a day after President Volodymyr Zelensky said updated intelligence showed Russia was preparing a "massive attack" and urged people to heed air-raid warnings, saying the country's air defences were ready to respond within their means.

A separate Russian air attack on Dnipro, in south-eastern Ukraine, damaged an industrial facility, regional administration head Oleksandr Hanzha said on Telegram, without giving further details.

Russian forces also struck a bridge in Zaporizhzhia on Tuesday, injuring five people, the regional governor said. Traffic on the bridge was halted for a time.

Kyiv has repeatedly come under attack on its two bridges over the Dnipro river in recent days. The capital's Northern Bridge, hit by drones on 3 and 4 October, injuring two people and leaving a large crater, has since been repaired and fitted with protective nets to intercept further drones, the city administration said. Russian drones also struck the Southern Bridge on 1 and 2 October, damaging the road surface, a support structure and protective covering over a metro line, and causing major traffic disruption.