Kyiv (Ukraine) (AFP) - Russia pummelled Ukraine with hundreds of drones and dozens of missiles early Tuesday, killing at least 11 people, after threatening a large-scale attack and warning foreign citizens to leave Kyiv.

Authorities in Kyiv had been sounding the alarm that Russia was preparing another massive barrage, the latest in a string of deadly strikes that have escalated the four-year war and dented hopes for peace.

AFP journalists in the capital heard air raid sirens wailing over the city before a series of loud explosions that lasted throughout the night sent residents with bags and blankets rushing to shelter in crowded metro stations.

The Ukrainian air force said Russia had launched 73 missiles and 656 drones, adding it had downed 602 of the drones and 40 of the missiles.

Moscow has bombarded Ukraine almost daily since launching its invasion in February 2022, a war that is now the bloodiest on European soil since World War II, with hundreds of thousands killed and millions displaced.

Russia said on Tuesday that it had carried out a huge strike, including with hypersonic missiles, targeting Ukraine’s military-industrial complex.

It denies that its forces target civilians.

But Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said four people were killed and at least 65 were wounded, including two children.

In the industrial city of Dnipro further south, seven people were killed and around 35 were wounded, local authorities announced.

AFP journalists saw explosions and huge plumes of smoke billowing across Kyiv’s skyline at dawn, while rescue workers cleared debris beneath multi-storey residential buildings gutted in the attack.

At least one part of the city was cut from electricity in the attack, AFP reporters said.

Fifteen people, including a child, were also wounded in the eastern city of Kharkiv that lies near the Russian border, according to the mayor, Igor Terekhov.

- ‘Protect your lives’ -

Meanwhile, a Ukrainian drone strike killed one person in Russia’s Kursk region, near the Ukrainian border, regional governor Alexander Khinshtein said.

Another drone sparked a fire at an oil refinery in the southwestern city of Krasnodar, its operational headquarters said on Telegram.

Zelensky had said last week that Ukraine had learned that Russia was preparing a new massive strike and urged people to heed the sirens, go to shelters and “protect your lives.”

He has reiterated his call to allies to allow and finance the supply of Patriot missiles, which can intercept Russian ballistic missiles.

He wrote to US President Donald Trump and the US Congress last week asking for Patriot systems to respond to the intensifying Russian air attacks.

Ukraine has also stepped up its strikes on occupied territories and on Russia in retaliation for the daily Russian bombardments.

Russia launched a record 8,150 long-range drones at Ukraine in May, an AFP analysis of Ukrainian air force data showed, up 24 percent from April.

Kyiv intercepted about 90 percent of all incoming drones and missiles in May, according to air force data.

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