Russia unleashed a major drone and missile attack on Ukraine overnight, killing three people, injuring dozens more, and damaging infrastructure and residential buildings, President Volodymyr Zelensky said.
Despite diplomatic efforts to find ways to end the war that began when Russia invaded in February 2022, the fighting has intensified in recent months.
In a statement on the Telegram app, Mr Zelensky said Russia had launched around 580 drones and 40 missiles targeting infrastructure, civilian manufacturing companies and residential areas in different parts of the country.
Air defences shot down 552 of the drones and 31 missiles, Ukraine's air force said.
Russia is 'terrorising' civilians - Zelensky
"All night, Ukraine was under a massive attack by Russia," Mr Zelensky said.
"Every such strike is not a military necessity but a deliberate strategy by Russia to terrorise civilians and destroy our infrastructure."
Russia denies targeting Ukrainian civilians.
In the central city of Dnipro, a missile with a cluster munition hit a residential apartment building, Mr Zelensky claimed.
One person was killed, and at least 26 people were injured in Dnipro, regional officials said.
Two people were also killed in the Chernihiv region in the north and the Khmelnytskyi region in the west of the country, regional officials said.
Reuters could not independently verify the battlefield reports.
"I could hear the 'Shahed' (drone) getting closer and closer. I understood it was flying towards us. My child and I were very frightened," Yulia Chystokletova, a resident of Kyiv, told Reuters.
"It should not be happening in the 21st century. We are all people. Agree... sit down at the negotiating table."
Kyiv faces increasing pressure in eastern Ukraine, where Russian troops are keeping up their grinding advance, devastating villages and towns and claiming new territory.
Both sides stepping up drone attacks
To hit Ukrainian cities far from the frontline, Russia appears to have changed its tactics and now launches swarms of hundreds of drones in one strike, compared with dozens early in the war.
Ukraine typically responds with drone strikes of its own, aiming to reach deeper into the Russian territory, hitting refineries, fuel depots, and logistics hubs.
Ukraine hit two Russian oil refineries in the Saratov and Samara regions in attacks overnight, causing explosions and fires, the Ukrainian General Staff said.
The attack on Russia's southwestern Samara region killed four people, the local governor reported.
"It is with deep sorrow that I report that four people were killed in an enemy drone attack last night," Samara governor Vyacheslav Fedorishchev said on social media, adding that one person was injured.
The attack was one of the deadliest Ukrainian retaliatory strikes on Russia.
"Regarding refineries: we have drones, we know how to produce them. It all depends on the number of drones we use per day," Mr Zelensky told reporters.
"As soon as the number of drones is comparable to that of the Russians, they will feel it in terms of fuel shortages and the number of queues at petrol stations."
Russia's Defence Ministry said its forces had successfully carried out strikes with high-precision weapons on Ukrainian military-industrial facilities overnight.
Polish and allied aircraft were also deployed this morning to ensure the safety of Polish airspace after some of Russia's airstrikes targeted western Ukraine near the border with NATO member Poland, the Polish military command said.
Zelensky says he will meet Trump next week at UN
Mr Zelensky said he would meet US counterpart Donald Trump on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly next week.
The Ukrainian president said he would hold "a meeting with the President of the United States", adding he would discuss security guarantees for Ukraine and sanctions on Russia during the talks with Mr Trump.
Ukraine has insisted on Western-backed security guarantees to prevent future Russian attacks. Russian President Vladimir Putin has meanwhile warned that any Western troops in Ukraine would be unacceptable and legitimate targets.
A US-led push for a quick end to the war has stalled and Russia effectively ruled out a meeting between Mr Putin and Mr Zelensky - something that Kyiv says is the only way towards peace.
"We expect sanctions if there is no meeting between the leaders or, for example, no ceasefire," Mr Zelensky said in comments released by the Ukrainian presidency.
"We are ready for a meeting with Putin. I have spoken about this. Both bilateral and trilateral. He is not ready," Mr Zelensky added.
The strikes come a day after three Russian fighter jets violated the airspace of Estonia - a NATO member on the alliance's eastern flank - an allegation Moscow denied.
But it triggered fears in the West of a dangerous new provocation from Moscow after Poland last week complained that around 20 Russian drones overflew its territory.
