Sawt Falasteen - Russian attack kills four in Kyiv

At least three more were wounded, while a separate overnight strike on the southern city of Zaporizhzhia wounded 10, the regional governor said.

Kyiv is frequently targeted by Russian drones and missiles but deaths are rare in the capital, which is heavily protected by air defence systems and better able to fend off attacks than elsewhere in the country

"We already have four dead in Shevchenkivsky district," Tymur Tkachenko, head of Kyiv's military administration, said in a Telegram post, referring to a central area of the capital.

"Yet another proof that Putin wants war, not peace," Ukraine's Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiga said in a post on social media.

"He must be forced to accept a just peace through strength -- maximum economic and military pressure," he added.

The air force said it had downed two Iskander ballistic missiles as well as 24 Russian attack drones overnight.

But it said the downed missiles "fell" on Kyiv's central Shevchenkivsky district, damaging an industrial building, a subway to the metro and residential buildings, and temporarily knocking out local water supplies.

An AFP reporter in Kyiv saw flooding on the street at the site of the attack and the charred remains of a bombed-out McDonald's outlet.

Air defences had been in operation in the capital throughout the night, the city's mayor said in updates posted to social media.

The attack came at a time when Kyiv has upped its aerial attacks on Russian energy and military facilities in recent months.

Kyiv's army has conducted strikes on several Russian oil depots recently, including two major attacks on a facility near a military airfield in Russia's Saratov region that triggered days-long blazes.

In Ukraine, Russian forces also targeted Zaporizhzhia overnight, the latest in a wave of strikes against the southern city.

Regional governor Ivan Fedorov said Russia had "cynically" targeted the centre of the city "while everyone was sleeping".

Ten people were wounded of whom one was in a serious condition, he said.

T.Ibrahim--SF-PST