In the early hours of Tuesday, Russia launched a wave of drone attacks on Ukraine, most aimed at Kyiv.

The General Staff of Ukraine’s Armed Forces said air defence destroyed 28 of the 30 Iranian-made Shahed drones launched by Russia.

According to preliminary information, Serhiy Popko, the head of the military administration in Kyiv, reported that 20 drones were shot down around the capital city alone.

“Another massive air attack on the capital,” Mr Popko wrote on Telegram. “This is only the second attack by Iranian drones on Kyiv since the beginning of the month and the first in the last 18 days.’’

There was no information about damage or casualties.

The general staff said the eastern Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhya was attacked with seven S-300 missiles.

A damage assessment from the bombardment was still being conducted.

Zaporizhzhya lies less than 50 kilometres from the front line.

The western Ukrainian city of Lviv, which had so far been largely unscathed by the nearly 16-month war, was also the target of rare airstrikes.

There were several explosions overnight, Mayor Andriy Sadovyi said on Telegram.

The head of the military administration for Lviv, Maksym Kozytskyi, gave the all-clear around 5:00 a.m. (0200 GMT).

He said a critical infrastructure site had been hit, but nobody was injured.

(dpa/NAN)