Russian forces unleashed a combined drone and missile strike on the Ukrainian capital Kyiv early on Saturday, killing three people in a central district, officials said.

Explosions boomed across the pre-dawn sky as air defences repelled the attack, which also wounded three others, according to city military administration chief Timur Tkachenko.

A shopping mall, business centre, metro station and water pipe were also damaged, he said.

“Russian forces initially launched drones and then a ballistic-missile strike,” parliamentary ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets wrote on social media. “These acts merely underscore the enemy's ruthlessness and barbarity.”

Rescue workers plodded through a flooded street as they sifted through debris. The charred remains of a van were visible in front of the station, whose facade was marked by twisted metal and blown-out windows.

As daylight broke, they could be seen examining missile fragments and loading a body bag into a truck.

Air force spokesman Yuriy Ihnat told Ukrainian media that both missiles that had been aimed at Kyiv were destroyed, but that one of them was shot down at a low altitude, resulting in heavy damage.

There was no immediate comment from Moscow, which has denied deliberately targeting civilians.

Russia also struck the southeastern city of Zaporizhzhia, where the regional governor said 10 people were wounded and the offices of an industrial facility were damaged.

The Ukrainian military said it had destroyed 24 of 39 drones and two of four missiles launched by Russia across various parts of Ukraine during the overnight attack.

On Friday, a Russian missile strike on the city of Kryvyi Rih, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy's hometown, killed four people and partially destroyed an educational facility, officials said.

“All those who assist the Russian state in this war must face pressure as impactful as these strikes,” Zelenskiy wrote on social media in response to Saturday’s attack.

Russia has carried out regular air strikes on towns and cities far behind the front line since the start of its almost three-year-old invasion of Ukraine, targeting critical infrastructure in particular.