Russia launches air strike on Kyiv, city official says attack repelled

By Valentyn Origenko

KYIV (Reuters) - Russia launched a new wave of overnight air strikes on Kyiv, with officials at the Ukrainian capital saying that air defence systems downed more than 20 cruise missiles on their approach.

"All were shot down, there were no hits," Serhiy Popko, head of Kyiv's military administration, said on the Telegram messaging app.

Reuters could not independently verify the report.

Reuters' witnesses reported hearing several blasts that sounded like air defence systems while the city was under air raid alerts for more than four hours, starting soon after midnight on Tuesday.

Falling debris hit road surfaces and damaged power lines to the trolley system in Kyiv's Desnianskyi district, the military said. The district, on the left bank of the Dnipro River is Kyiv's most populous.

According to preliminary information, there were no casualties, the officials said.

(Writing by Lidia Kelly in Melbourne; Editing by Kim Coghill and Christian Schmollinger)