Russian barrages of drones and missiles pounded Ukraine's central-eastern city of Dnipro for 20 hours straight, killing eight people and wounding dozens, local authorities said on Saturday.

"20 hours... For more than 20 awful hours, the Russians attacked Dnipro in waves. They struck with missiles and drones," said military governor of the wider Dnipropetrovsk region, Oleksandr Ganzha.

Dnipro's mayor Borys Filatov described the barrage as "the largest-scale attack on Dnipro."

Rescuers spent hours sifting through debris despite the ongoing strikes, clearing out the rubble of bombed apartment buildings and searching for survivors and bodies, photos from the Ukrainian emergency service showed.

One apartment building was struck twice at different times, authorities said.

The attack killed eight people and wounded 49, including two children.

Another 10 people were wounded in the Dnipropetrovsk region.

Strikes also hit the neighbouring Zaporizhzhia region, killing one person and wounding four in a civilian minibus, said regional military administration head Ivan Fedorov.

Ukraine's air force said Russia had launched 619 drones and 47 missiles overnight, adding that most of them had been repelled.

Russia's defence ministry said it had "launched a massive strike" on Ukrainian military targets over the past 24 hours.

Moscow denies having targeted civilians throughout the four-year conflict.

In recent months, Kyiv has also stepped up its own retaliatory attacks on Russia, hitting civilians and energy infrastructure among other targets. (AFP)


Edited by Tony Sabine