KYIV, Dec 20 ― Russia late yesterday launched its fifth air attack this month targeting Kyiv, with Ukraine's air defence systems destroying all weapons on approach to the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv's military said early today.

"According to preliminary information, there were no casualties or destruction in the capital,” Serhiy Popko, head of Kyiv's military administration, said on the Telegram messaging app.

The full scale of the attack was not immediately clear. Reuters could not independently verify the reports. There was no immediate comment from Russia.

Russia started carrying out strikes on Ukraine's energy, military and transport infrastructure in regions far from the front line in October 2022, six months after Moscow troops failed to take over Kyiv and withdrew to Ukraine's east and south.

Most of southeastern Ukraine remained under air raid alerts at 2300 GMT, with Ukraine's air force saying that the Kharkiv, Dnipropetrovsk and Kirovohrad regions were under threat of Russian ballistic missile attacks. ― Reuters