People gather around buildings damaged after shelling, as Russia's attack on Ukraine continues, at Stepne, in Zaporizhzhia, on Thursday. Reuters

"Senseless barbarism. These are the only words that come to mind seeing Russia launch another missile barrage at peaceful Ukrainian cities ahead of New Year," Ukraine's Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba tweeted.

Ukraine's military said it had shot down 54 missiles out of 69 launched by Russia in an assault that began at 7am local time. Air raid sirens rang out across Ukraine and in Kyiv sounded for five hours — one of the longest alarms of the war.

Officials had earlier said more than 120 missiles were fired into Ukraine during the attack.

In Kyiv, Reuters footage showed a team of emergency workers poring through the smouldering wreckage of residential houses destroyed by a blast and smoke trails of missiles lingering in the sky over the capital.

In Kharkiv, Ukraine's second largest city, fire fighters worked to extinguish a large blaze at an electricity station.

In the southern central city of Zaporizhzhia, houses were damaged and a missile left a huge crater. "I woke up to everything shaking, crumbling. I got up and screamed, 'Vitia, Vitia (my husband), where are you?' I ran barefoot on glass. He appeared and glass was falling off him," said 60-year-old local resident Halyna.

Ukraine's military said Russia had launched air and sea-based cruise missiles, anti-aircraft guided missiles and S-300 ADMS at energy infrastructure facilities in eastern, central, western and southern regions. The attacks followed an overnight assault by 'kamikaze' drones.

Waves of Russian air strikes in recent months targeting energy infrastructure have left millions without power and heating in often freezing temperatures.
"The enemy placed a high stake on this attack, preparing for it for two weeks. Ukrainian air defence forces demonstrated an incredible level of skill and efficiency," said Ukraine's Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal on the Telegram messaging app.

"At the same time, there were hits and damage, in particular to energy facilities. In some areas, emergency shutdowns may be applied to avoid accidents in the networks. Our power engineers are already working to repair everything," he added.

The latest blitz came hard on the heels of the Kremlin's rejection of a Ukrainian peace plan, insisting that Kyiv must accept Russia's annexation of four Ukrainian regions.

AIR DEFENCES

Kyiv authorities said two private houses in Darnytskyi district were damaged by the fragments of downed missiles and a business and a playground were also damaged. The mayor of Kyiv, Vitali Klitschko, said 16 missiles were shot down and three people injured in the attacks.

The mayor of Lviv, Andriy Sadovyi, said on Telegram that 90% of his city near the Polish border was without electricity. The missiles damaged an energy infrastructure unit.

In the southwestern Odesa region, air defence units shot down 21 missiles, its governor Maksym Marchenko said. The fragments of one missile hit a residential building, though no casualties were reported, he added.

Moscow has repeatedly denied targeting civilians, but Ukraine says its daily bombardment is destroying cities, towns, and the country's power, medical and other infrastructure.

For months Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has asked Western countries for further air defence help.

Belarus' state-run BelTA news agency reported that a Ukrainian S-300 missile had fallen onto the territory of Belarus on Thursday and published a photo of what it said were parts of it lying in an empty field.

Minsk was investigating whether its air defence systems had shot down the rocket or whether it was a misfire. The incident happened around the time Russia was firing missiles at Ukraine.

Reuters