Russian strikes early Thursday cut heating to nearly 2,600 residential buildings in Kyiv, in a nationwide attack on energy facilities that killed two people in eastern Ukraine.
Russia has stepped up strikes on Ukraine's power and heating infrastructure, plunging entire cities into darkness in the coldest winter of the four-year war.
AFP journalists in Kyiv heard loud blasts and saw explosions light up the night sky, as Ukrainian air defense systems fended off the Russian barrage.
"After last night's massive attack, due to damage to critical infrastructure targeted by the enemy, nearly 2,600 more buildings in the capital have been left without heat," the mayor of Kyiv, Vitaliy Klitschko, said.
He added that two people had been wounded in the capital overnight.
More than 1,000 of the capital's approximately 12,000 apartment blocks were already without heating after massive Russian attacks over the last few weeks.
Russia launched 24 missiles and 219 drones at the war-torn country, Ukraine's air force said, adding that its air defense units had downed 16 missiles and 197 drones.
Two people were killed in the eastern Ukrainian town of Lozova, where the attack cut power to residents and forced authorities to use alternative power sources for critical infrastructure, a local official said.
The attack also wounded four people in the central city of Dnipro, and cut heating to 10,000 customers, Restoration Minister Oleksiy Kuleba said.
"This is yet another attempt to deprive Ukrainians of basic services in the middle of winter. But restoration efforts continue nonstop," Kuleba added.
In the southern Odesa region, the attacks wounded one person, the state emergency services said, while Kuleba said around 300,000 had been left without water supplies.
Russia meanwhile said it repelled a missile attack in the Volgograd region but that debris ignited a fire at a military facility and prompted the evacuation of a nearby village.
