Russian forces have launched a major drone and missile attack on the Ukrainian capital Kyiv overnight, killing 13 people, officials say.

Several neighbourhoods were evacuated as strikes rocked buildings throughout the city, hours after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned Russia was preparing for a "massive" attack.

Children were among the "significant number" of casualties, Tymur Tkachenko, the head of Kyiv's military administration, said.

"The enemy is once again deliberately targeting residential areas and killing civilians," he said early on Thursday. Russia's Ministry of Defence claimed it targeted energy facilities in response to recent Ukrainian strikes.

Ukraine's air force said Russia had launched 74 missiles and 496 drones overnight, mainly targeting the capital.

While the country's air defences were able to repel most of these, 25 ballistics missiles and 12 drones struck 33 locations.

The BBC team in Kyiv heard loud explosions through the night. By 3:30 local time, we had counted 10 significant strikes, with one major fire in the city centre and multiple other blazes in the distance spotted.

Tracer fire from air defence systems kept lighting up the sky, followed by explosions.

On Thursday morning, daylight brought clearer images of a crater which appeared to be caused by the impact of explosions.

Smouldering cars, buildings and infrastructure could also be seen next to bombed-out debris.

Multiple fires broke out across the city and damage was reported at an ambulance station in the city, which left at least one person critically injured.

Firefighters were also dousing a blaze destroying a hotel on a central boulevard.

The country's state emergency service said 13 people have been killed and more than 30 others injured.

So far 34 people have been rescued, officials said, and rescue operations are ongoing at sites that have been hit, including in a high-rise apartment building and homes in the south-east of Kyiv.

Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiha has called on Ukraine's partners to send more air defence systems, saying the country needed "not only words of condemnation but concrete action to stop Russian terror".

He posted on X that Russia had targeted residential buildings and civilian infrastructure, and called on partners to increasing sanctions on Russia.

Ukraine's US ambassador Olha Stefanishyna wrote in a post on X: "Another horrific night for the residents of the city, who were forced to spend it in shelters."

"Fires and the destruction of civilian infrastructure and residential buildings in several districts of the city."

It marks the first large-scale missile and drone strike by Russia on Ukraine in more than two weeks.

Residents took shelter in underground metro stations when air raids rang out across Kyiv overnight

Russia also hit military bases in central and eastern Ukraine, according to the Ministry of Defence, quoted in Russian media.

It claimed to have targeted Ukrainian defence and energy infrastructure in response to recent attacks on Russian power stations from Moscow to the Black Sea.

The attacks led to a rare confession by Russian President Vladimir Putin that his country was facing fuel shortages.

On Wednesday, Zelensky cut short his visit to Dublin after he said fresh intelligence had emerged suggesting that Moscow was planning to strike Ukraine.

"I urge our people to be especially careful, to protect themselves, their children, and, of course, their families," he said.

He added that Russian President Vladimir Putin "has been preparing this massive strike against Ukraine for some time now".

Russian troops recently advanced into the city of Kostyantynivka, one of Ukraine's last key bulwarks in the east. If Moscow secures the city, it would provide a gateway to the entire Donbas region.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian commanders say they have recaptured more territory this year than they have lost, disrupting Moscow's crucial supply lines between the Russian border and occupied Crimea.

The ground war has otherwise stalled for months with each side's troops largely entrenched in their positions.

Russia controls approximately one-fifth of Ukrainian territory, mostly seized in the first few months of its full-scale invasion in February, 2022. (BBC)

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