A Russian ballistic missile attack on the region surrounding Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, has killed at least 14 people and injured 27 others, the city’s military administration said.

The strikes early on Wednesday morning come after at least 27 people were killed in separate attacks in both Ukraine and Russia earlier this week, with the five-year-long conflict showing no signs of slowing down.

Kyiv’s military administration said seven sites had come under attack in the assault that began after midnight. Air raid alerts for Kyiv remained in place for more than an hour.

The city’s mayor, Vitali Klitschko, said one warehouse building had been destroyed near the city centre and rescue teams had pulled two people from the ruins.

“There may still be people under the rubble,” he wrote on Telegram. “Search and rescue operations are proceeding.”

Several other warehouses were also damaged in the attack, according to emergency services.

In an earlier post on Telegram, Klitschko said that air defence units had been in action to repel the assault.

Ukraine has in recent months urged its allies for more supplies of US-made Patriot missile interceptors to protect its airspace against Russian ballistic attacks.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said a lack of ballistic missile interceptors “only encourages Russia to launch such attacks that take human lives”.

Zelenskyy met US President Donald Trump last Tuesday, partly to lobby Washington for licences to produce Patriots domestically.

United Nations human rights monitors have voiced concern about the rising numbers of civilian casualties, which have reached their highest levels since Russia’s full-scale invasion of its neighbour in February 2022.