Russia has attacked the Ukrainian capital Kyiv with several waves of drones for the second night in a row, damaging residential buildings and injuring at least one civilian, Ukrainian officials say.
The Ukrainian military on Monday said air defences downed 59 out of 116 Russian drones launched overnight. The military lost track of 45 drones that likely fell into Ukrainian territory, it said.
"Another night, another worry," Serhiy Popko, head of Kyiv's military administration, said on Telegram. "The enemy does not reduce the intensity of air attacks on Ukraine and Kyiv."
The latest attack follows Russian strikes on Kyiv, Kharkiv and other cities, Ukraine says. (AP PHOTO)
The attacks came as US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin arrives in Ukraine on an unannounced visit, and amid claims North Korea has dispatched troops to Russia.
Up to 10 drones were still in Ukrainian air space. The military said several attacks hit civilian infrastructure.
About 10 drones targeting the capital in several waves and from different direction were destroyed, Popko said. While none of the weapons hit their target, falling debris injured at least one man, he added.
Debris fell onto three of Kyiv's main districts, damaging some to roofs and the facades of several residential buildings and power cables, Mayor Vitali Klitschko said on Telegram.
As a result of the falling debris the roof of a multi-storey residential building was damaged, windows were smashed and one apartment was partially destroyed, Kyiv regional administration said.
The air raid alerts in Kyiv lasted more than five hours before the air force declared skies clear.
The attack followed Russian strikes on Kyiv and other cities on Sunday which injured 17 people in a central Ukrainian city.
In Kharkiv, an eastern Ukrainian region bordering Russia, at least 12 people were injured overnight after Russia launched guided air bombs, national police said on Telegram.
Several residential buildings were damaged, it said.
Reuters could not independently verify the reports. There was no immediate comment from Moscow.
Both countries deny targeting civilians in the two-and-a-half-year war that started when Russia invaded its neighbour in February 2022.
US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin has signalled continuity in US support for Ukraine. (AP PHOTO)
The attacks came ahead of an unannounced visit to Ukraine by US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin, in a show of Washington's support for Kyiv two weeks ahead of a US presidential election that is casting uncertainty over the future of Western support.
Austin's trip, his fourth and likely final visit as President Joe Biden's Pentagon chief, will include in-depth discussions about US efforts to help Kyiv shore up its defences as Moscow's forces advance in the east.
But it is not expected to include a new US agreement to some of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy's biggest requests, like lifting US restrictions on using US-supplied weapons to hit targets far beyond Ukraine's borders.
As Biden's administration winds down, Austin signalled continuity in US support.
"We're going to continue to support Ukraine in its efforts to defend its sovereign territory," Austin told reporters travelling with him to Ukraine.
"We've watched this fight evolve over time. And each time that it does evolve, we have risen to the occasion to meet (Ukraine's) needs to make sure that they were effective on the battlefield."
Also on Monday, South Korea's foreign ministry summoned the Russian ambassador in Seoul in protest over what it has called the dispatch of North Korean troops to Russia for deployment in Ukraine, and pledged a joint international response.
If North Korea were to send troops to Ukraine to fight on Russia's behalf it would significantly escalate the conflict, NATO Chief Mark Rutte said on social media platform X on Monday.
Rutte, who took office at NATO at the start of October, said he had a discussion with South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol about the alliance's close partnership with Seoul, focusing on defence industrial cooperation and the interconnected security of the Euro-Atlantic and Indo-Pacific regions.
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said last week that North Korea was preparing to send 10,000 soldiers to help Moscow's war effort, and that some North Korean officers were already deployed on Russian-occupied Ukrainian territory.
The West has long accused North Korea of supplying weapons to Russia. Rutte and the Pentagon both said last week that they have found no evidence yet of a North Korean military presence on the ground in Ukraine.