Il Nuovo Postiglione - Biggest ever Russian barrage on Kyiv kills at least 13

The European Union's top diplomat proposed new sanctions on Moscow following the strikes, while Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky asked the United States for licences to manufacture Patriot air defence missiles.

Russia has routinely launched waves of missiles and drones at Ukrainian cities, including Kyiv, the capital, during its more than four-year invasion, which has become Europe's deadliest conflict since World War II.

AFP journalists in central and eastern Kyiv heard more than a dozen explosions and saw residents -- some with children and pets -- rushing to shelter in metro stations.

In the morning, locals stood on the rubble of destroyed apartment blocks, ripped apart by the barrage, as smoke poured over the Kyiv skyline.

Blasts started echoing out over the Ukrainian capital late on Wednesday, lasting into the early hours of Thursday as Russian missiles and drones rained down on residential areas in the centre of the city.

Mayor Vitali Klitschko said at least 13 people had been killed and 86 wounded, describing it as the "enemy's most massive attack on the capital".

Kyiv urged its allies to send more air defence.

"Air defence supplies for Ukraine are an absolute and critical priority," Zelensky said in a post on Facebook.

"We also very much count on a decision by the United States regarding licences for Patriots," he added.

Ukraine is seeking to manufacture munitions for the US-made missile interceptor system, one of its only ways of defending against Russian ballistic missiles, although defence experts say it will take time to set up production domestically.

- Struggling to sleep -

Russia fired 496 drones and 74 missiles -- including hard-to-intercept ballistic projectiles -- Ukraine's air force said.

It said it shot down 48 of the missiles and 476 drones.

AFP reporters met several Kyiv residents outside an apartment building largely destroyed in the attack.

"Half the building has been destroyed. The roof is gone," said 32-year-old factory worker Sabina Mambetova, standing outside the rubble of her home in the eastern Darnytskyi district.

"I've been left without an apartment, alone with my child. I don't know what to do now."

Locals packed into underground metro stations or hunkered in basements and corridors to protect from the barrage.

"It's hard. My child is used to sleeping in complete silence and darkness," 32-year-old doctor Kateryna Kucheryava told AFP from the metro as the attack was unfolding.

"I picked her up and carried her down. She woke up and now she's not sleeping anymore.

"We're trying to get her back to sleep but she keeps getting distracted. It's bright here. Dogs are barking. Other children are around."

Along station platforms, local set up tents, lay on air mattresses or camping chairs, while mothers tried to sleep clutching babies to their chests.

- 'Use shelters' -

The attack came hours after Zelensky cut short a visit to Dublin on Wednesday, citing intelligence reports of an impending Russian strike.

"I urge our people to be especially careful, to protect themselves, their children and, of course, their families; to use shelters and heed air raid alerts in Ukraine. This is very important," he told a news conference.

He said Russian President Vladimir Putin "has been preparing this massive strike against Ukraine for some time now".

Ukraine has also stepped up long-range drone attacks inside Russia in recent weeks, targeting energy infrastructure and military targets.

Russian officials have reported repeated strikes in border regions, while Moscow has said its air defences had intercepted hundreds of drones from Ukraine in recent days.

Russia's defence ministry confirmed on Thursday it had launched a "massive strike" on Kyiv in what it called a retaliation to the Ukrainian counter-attacks.

Russia's invasion of Ukraine has led to more than two million military casualties, with Moscow's forces bearing the brunt of the losses, according to a study published on Wednesday by US think tank Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).

US efforts to broker an end to the conflict have so far failed.

EU top diplomat Kaja Kallas said she would propose new sanctions on Thursday on "entities supporting Russia's military-industrial complex" in response to the strikes.

"We keep raising the cost until Russia understands it cannot win," she wrote on X, adding that EU staff in Kyiv were accounted for.

O.R.Lucchese--INP