Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said on the Telegram messaging app that the loud explosions heard in the city were the work of air defence systems engaged in repelling the attack.

Falling drone debris sparked a fire in Desnianskyi district, he added. The district, on the east bank of the Dnipro River is Kyiv's most populous.

Serhiy Popko, head of Kyiv's military administration, said emergency services were also dispatched to Holosiivskyi district along the west bank of the Dnipro.

There were no immediate reports of casualties, Popko said on the Telegram massaging app.

(Reporting by Gleb Garanich in Kyiv and Lidia Kelly in Melbourne; Editing by Stephen Coates)