🔴 Live: Ukraine says air defences repelled most ‘powerful attack since spring’ on Kyiv

7:58am: Ukraine says it shot down all 28 Russian missiles and 15 drones launched overnight

Ukrainian air defences shot down all 28 Russian missiles and 15 out of 16 drones launched overnight, General Valeriy Zaluzhnyi, commander-in-chief of Ukraine’s armed forces, said on Wednesday.

Ukrainian authorities have said at least two people were killed and two wounded in an attack on Kyiv on Wednesday morning. Several people were also injured in the Kyiv region.

7:32am: Russia downed two more drones in Bryansk region, governor says

Russia has thwarted another Ukrainian attack in the Bryansk region, destroying two drones that had tried to attack a TV tower, the local governor said on Wednesday.

No casualties or damage were reported.

7:29am: At least two killed in Russian missile attack on Kyiv, officials say

At least two people were killed and two wounded in an attack on Kyiv on Wednesday morning, Mayor Vitali Klitschko wrote on Telegram, as debris from targets destroyed by air defences fell on several buildings in the Ukrainian capital.

The bodies of two people were found in a nonresidential building and one person was wounded by glass shards, Klitschko said, adding that debris fell in four places in the capital.

“Kyiv has not experienced such a powerful attack since spring. The enemy launched a massive, combined attack using drones and missiles,” Serhiy Popko, the head of the city’s military administration said on Telegram. 

He said that at the beginning several groups of drones were heading for Kyiv from different directions. Russia then launched missiles from Tu-95 strategic aircraft.

“All in all, the air defence forces destroyed more than 20 enemy targets,” Popko said.

Kyiv authorities said several buildings were damaged by debris while officials in Kyiv region reported that several houses were damaged by missile fragments.

5:44am: Kyiv air defences repel ‘most powerful’ attack since spring

More than 20 drones and missiles were destroyed by air defences over Kyiv, the city’s military administration said on Wednesday, describing the barrage as the “most powerful strike” on the capital since the spring.

“Kyiv has not experienced such a powerful attack since spring … In total, more than 20 enemy targets were destroyed by air defence forces,” the Kyiv City Military Administration wrote on Telegram.

4:45am: Explosions heard in Ukrainian capital, mayor says

Explosions were heard in Kyiv in the early hours of Wednesday, Mayor Vitali Klitschko wrote on the Telegram messaging app, and debris from targets destroyed by air defences damaged several buildings in the Ukrainian capital.

Klitschko said a store building and an administrative building were on fire and one person had been wounded by glass shards. He did not say whether the debris was from missiles or drones.

4:30am: Six regions targeted in biggest drone attack on Russia since invasion of Ukraine, officials say

Russia accused Ukraine of launching what appeared to be the biggest drone attack on Russian soil since Moscow sent troops into Ukraine 18 months ago.

Drones hit an airport in the western Pskov region and started a massive fire there, the governor and local media reported. More drones were shot down over Oryol, Bryansk, Ryazan, Kaluga and the Moscow region surrounding the Russian capital, according to the defence ministry.

The strike in Pskov, which was first reported minutes before midnight, hit an airport in the region’s namesake capital and damaged four Il-76 transport aircraft, Russia’s state TASS news agency reported, citing emergency officials.

Pskov regional Governor Mikhail Vedernikov ordered all flights to and from the airport cancelled Wednesday, so damage could be assessed during daylight.

Footage and images posted on social media showed smoke billowing over the city of Pskov and a large blaze. 

1:30am: Russian military says its aircraft destroyed four Ukrainian vessels

Russia’s military said via Telegram early on Wednesday that one of its aircraft had destroyed four rapid Ukrainian vessels carrying up to 50 paratroops in an operation on the Black Sea.

1:20am: Russian military says it downed four Ukrainian drones

Russia’s military, reporting on Telegram, said early on Wednesday it had downed three Ukrainian drones over the southern Bryansk region and one over the central Orlov region.

12:50am: Airspace briefly closed around Moscow’s Vnukovo airport, TASS reports

The airspace around Moscow’s Vnukovo airport was briefly closed early on Wednesday, the state TASS news agency quoted Russian aviation officials as saying. The airport was later reopened to air traffic.

The closure was ordered after officials said the military was repelling a drone attack on an airport in the western city of Pskov.

TASS, quoting emergency services, said four Il-76 transport aircraft, long the workhorse of the Russian military, were damaged at the military airfield.

7:18pm, August 29: US announces new $250 million military assistance package for Ukraine

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Tuesday announced a new package of military assistance for Ukraine.

The package includes additional mine-clearing equipment, missiles for air defence, ammunition for artillery and high bar systems, and over 3 million rounds of small arms ammunition, Blinken said in a statement.

Key developments from Tuesday, August 29:

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba met his French counterpart Catherine Colonna in Paris. 

The funeral of Russian mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin, who was killed in a plane crash last week, was held privately at a cemetery on the outskirts of his hometown St Petersburg, his press service said on Tuesday.

Russia on Tuesday handed 11-year jail terms to two exiled journalists accused of spreading misinformation about the military, pursuing a historic crackdown on criticism of the war in Ukraine.

Ukraine said Tuesday that its forces had pushed deeper into Russian defensive lines near the village of Robotyne, one day after claiming control over the village on the southern front.

Read yesterday’s liveblog to see how the day’s events unfolded.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP, AP and Reuters)