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Edited by: Louis Oelofse

Russian missile and drone strikes killed at least 16 people and injured several others across Ukraine in overnight attacks, local authorities said Thursday.

In the capital Kyiv, a 12-year-old child and three others were killed in a Russian strike, while nine people died in the southern port city of Odesa, officials said.

Authorities warned that the number of death count might rise as the missiles and drones struck civilian areas.

At least 18 people were injured in Kyiv, military administrator Tymur Tkachenko said, with local media reporting multiple explosions as missiles struck the city in several waves.

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said emergency teams had rescued a mother and child from a building in a central district of the city, where the ground floor was badly damaged.

Firefighters struggled to control multiple blazes across Kyiv.

In Dnipro, a missile strike injured at least 27 people and set residential buildings on fire, regional authorities said. Five of the injured were in critical condition.

Blasts reported from across districts

Explosions were reported across multiple districts, with damage to residential and commercial buildings. The full extent of the damage and casualties remained unclear.

Air raid alerts were issued across several regions as attacks continued into the early morning.

On Wednesday evening, a Russian drone strike hit an apartment block in Odesa, killing at least one person and injuring six.

Ukraine's air force said it downed or neutralized 31 Russian missiles and 636 drones in attacks across the country.

"During this period, the enemy launched two waves of combined attacks on Ukrainian territory, using ground-based and air-launched missiles, as well as attack drones," the air force said in a statement on Telegram.

'Pressure on Russia must work, says Zelenskyy

Ukraine’s top diplomatic priority is securing allies’ help to buy and build more air defense systems, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Wednesday after meeting European allies in Germany.

"Every day we need air defense missiles — every day Russia continues its strikes," Zelenskyy said in a post on the Telegram messaging app.

"There can be no normalization of Russia as it is today. Pressure on Russia must work. And it is important to fulfill every promise of assistance to Ukraine on time," he added.

Disclaimer: This report first appeared on Deutsche Welle, and has been republished on ABP Live as part of a special arrangement. Apart from the headline, no changes have been made in the report by ABP Live.