Russia launched major missile and drone attacks overnight from Wednesday that targeted Ukraine's Kyiv, Dnipro, Poltava, Sumy, and Mykolaiv regions, Ukrainian authorities said, with at least six people killed and and 52 wounded in Kyiv.

Russian strikes on Kyiv killed at least six people, officials said Thursday, as Moscow claimed the capture of a town that had been a key stronghold for the Ukrainian army in the east of the country.

Russia said on Tuesday it wanted peace in Ukraine hours after mounting attacks that killed at least 25 people, including a 23-year-old pregnant woman and more than a dozen prison