A nationwide air raid alert was sounded in Ukraine early on Thursday, with reports of explosions in several cities. The Ukrainian air force said in a Telegram post at 05:19 local time (03:19 GMT) that the alert was in force "throughout the territory of Ukraine due to the threat of missile danger".

Russia may use its new Oreshnik hypersonic missile to attack "decision-making centres" in Kyiv in response to Ukraine's firing of Western missiles at&nbsp

President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that a massive Russian overnight attack on Ukrainian infrastructure was a response to Kyiv's attacks on Russian regions using longer-range Western missiles. Ukrainian officials said that Russia had unleashed its second big attack on Ukraine's energy infrastructure this month on Thursday,