Russia has increasingly focused its strikes on the capital Kyiv. Kyiv has been targeted in 17 out of 21 reported Russian attacks on Ukraine in May, compared with twice out of seven attacks in April.

Russia launched a new wave of overnight air strikes on Kyiv, with officials at the Ukrainian capital saying that air defence systems downed more than 20 cruise missiles on their approach.

Russia said on Thursday it had repelled more cross-border attacks from Ukraine while its aerial assaults on Kyiv killed another three people including a nine-year-old girl and her mother locked out of an air raid shelter.

Evacuations have begun after a major dam was destroyed in southern Ukraine. Kyiv blamed Moscow for blowing up the Nova Kakhova dam in Kherson, while a Russia-backed official said it was "a serious terrorist attack.

Explosions rattled Kyiv during daylight Monday as Russian ballistic missiles took aim at the Ukrainian capital.

Russia launched a predawn missile barrage at the Ukrainian capital Thursday, killing three people, including a 9-year-old and her mother, and damaging apartment buildings, schools and a

STORY: "All were shot down, there were no hits," Serhiy Popko, head of Kyiv's military administration, said on the Telegram messaging app. Reuters could not independently verify the report.Reuters' witnesses reported hearing several blasts that sounded like air defense systems while the city was under air raid alerts for more than four hours,