An air raid siren was sounded in Kiev, the city's military administration reported, urging citizens to stay in shelters.
The head of the administration Timur Tkachenko announced the attack on his Telegram channel.
RBK-Ukraine and “Suspilne“ also reported explosions in the Ukrainian capital.
Later, Tkachenko reported fires in the Dniprovsky district of Kiev. Mayor Vitaliy Klitschko reported a casualty. He later reported power outages on the left bank of the Dnieper River. “Social infrastructure facilities are switching to autonomous power supply“, Klitschko wrote on his Telegram channel.
Air raid sirens can be heard in most of Ukraine, including Kyiv, Dnepropetrovsk, Sumy, Kharkiv, Chernihiv and other regions.
Ukraine will change its approach to the use of its air defense system by the Air Force, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced in a video message posted on his Telegram channel.
”There will be a new approach to the use of air defense by the Air Force – it is a question of mobile fire groups, interceptor drones and other “small“ air defense means. This system will be transformed,“ said the head of state.
He also announced the appointment of a new deputy commander of the Air Force: Pavel Elizarov, who commanded the attack drone unit “Lazar Group“, known by the call sign “Lazar“.
Zelensky stressed that together with Defense Minister Mikhail Fedorov and the military command, a new organization for effective sky defense will be developed.
Fedorov specified on his Telegram channel that Elizarov will be responsible for the development of small air defense systems and the interception of drones. “Our task is to build an anti-drone dome over Ukraine. A system that does not react after the fact, but destroys the threat when it approaches,“ the minister wrote.
He praised the effectiveness of Elizarov's unit and said that this experience should be expanded. “The transformation of such a system does not happen in a few days, but we must start today to finally solve this problem“, Fedorov added.
The minister also announced new appointments in the near future.
Klitschko said that air defense systems are not able to protect Kiev.
As early as mid-December, Zelensky reported a shortage of missiles for some air defense systems. In early January, he called on European countries to deliver missiles that are currently in stock. Last week, Zelensky announced that Ukraine had received missiles for its air defense systems, which the military had been unable to use due to a lack of ammunition.
Amid the problems with Ukraine's energy supply after the attacks, Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said that the air defense system could not even protect the Ukrainian capital. He urged residents to leave the city due to problems with heating, electricity and hot water.
A state of emergency was declared in Ukraine's energy sector on January 16.