Ukrainian authorities issued air raid alerts for most of the country, after Russian strikes killed at least six people in southern Ukraine.
Preventive power blackouts have also been introduced in Kyiv and several regions due to the threat of a Russian missile attack.
Power cuts were introduced in the Kyiv, Odesa, Dnipropetrovsk and Donetsk regions, Ukrainian energy provider DTEK said on the Telegram messaging app.
“Attention! Missile danger throughout Ukraine! MiG-31K takeoff,” Ukraine’s air force said in a post on Telegram confirming Russian bombers were airborne.
Russian air strikes earlier killed at least six people in southern Ukraine, a day after Russia and Ukraine launched record overnight drone attacks on each other.
Five people were killed in the southern city of Mykolaiv, according to the regional governor, while a sixth died in Zaporizhzhia in an attack that authorities said wounded more than a dozen.
Smoke rises from a house following an artillery strike yesterday in Pokrovsk, Ukraine
“Five dead,” Mykolaiv Governor Vitaly Kim said earlier on Telegram, revising up an earlier toll of four after an attack that set several residential buildings on fire.
About 300km to the east in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine’s state emergency services agency said Russia carried out three air strikes that killed a man and damaged multiple buildings.
Zaporizhzhia Governor Ivan Fedorov said that 18 people were wounded, including five children.
“Boys aged 4, 16 and 17 and girls aged 15 and 17 have received the necessary medical assistance,” he said on Telegram.
Overnight Saturday into yesterday, Russia fired 145 drones at Ukraine, according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, more than any previous single nighttime attack during the conflict.
Russia also said it had downed 34 Ukrainian drones targeting Moscow yesterday, the largest attempted attack on the capital since the start of the war in 2022.
Trump urges Putin not to escalate conflict
US president-elect Donald Trump has reportedly urged Russia’s Vladimir Putin not to escalate the conflict.
Mr Trump’s election to the White House has the potential to upend the almost three-year conflict and has thrown into question the US multi-billion dollar support for Ukraine, crucial to its defence.
The Republican said on the campaign trail that he could end the fighting within hours and has indicated he would talk directly with Mr Putin – a major break from the approach adopted by President Joe Biden.
The Washington Post reported that Mr Trump talked by phone last Thursday with the Russian president, telling him not to inflame the war.
Mr Trump reminded Mr Putin of the sizeable military foothold that the US has in Europe, according to the report.
Donald Trump has not said how he intends to strike a peace deal in the Ukraine-Russia conflict
Russia had earlier said it saw “positive signals” from Mr Trump’s willingness to strike a deal, and several people speaking to the US paper said Mr Trump had expressed the desire for more conversations on “the resolution of Ukraine’s war soon”.
Mr Trump also spoke by phone with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz yesterday and the pair “agreed to work together towards a return to peace in Europe”, according to Mr Scholz’s spokesman.
US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan has said that the White House was to spend its remaining $6 billion of funding for Ukraine before Mr Trump takes office, warning of the risks of ending US support for Ukraine.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that so far following the US election “the signals are positive.”
“At least he’s talking about peace, and not about confrontation,” he said in an interview with state media published Sunday.
But he cautioned that Mr Trump was “less predictable” than Kamala Harris or Mr Biden and “what will happen next, it’s hard to say.”
Mr Trump has not said how he intends to strike a peace deal or what terms he is proposing.
Mr Putin has demanded Ukraine withdraw from swathes of its eastern and southern territory as a precondition to peace talks.
People familiar with Thursday’s call said Mr Trump had briefly raised the question of land with Mr Putin.
Following Mr Trump’s election, Mr Zelensky warned there should be “no concessions” to Mr Putin.
Ceding land or giving in to any of Russia’s other hardline demands would only embolden Russia and lead to more aggression, he said.
Mr Zelensky has previously said that without US aid Ukraine would lose the conflict.
On the ground, Russia has been slowly advancing for weeks.
Russia’s troops last month made their largest territorial gains since March 2022, according to AFP analysis of data from the Washington-based Institute for the Study of War.