Russia launches missile attack on Ukrainian cities - Ukraine's air force

All of Ukraine was under air raid alert from around 6am (4am Irish time), with Ukraine's Air Force warning on Telegram of a risk of Russian missile attacks across the country.

In this photo taken from video released by the Russian Defense Ministry Press Service a Mi-28N "Night Hunter" helicopter gunship of the Russian air force fires rockets at a target at an unknown location in Ukraine. File picture: Russian Defense Ministry Press Service via AP

Russia launched several waves of missile strikes on Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities during Wednesday morning rush hours, Ukrainian officials said, with falling debris from the downed weapons cutting off electricity to parts of the capital.

Several waves of blasts rocked Kyiv during the attack, the first in February, with air defence systems engaged in destroying the missiles, Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said on the Telegram messaging app.