Russia's war on Ukraine latest: Attack by drones underway in Kyiv, says governor

Residents of the Ukrainian capital Kyiv were urged to head to air raid shelters early Friday, with one official saying an attack by drones was underway, a day after Russia carried out the biggest aerial assault since it started the war in February.

Residents of the Ukrainian capital Kyiv were urged to head to air raid shelters early Friday, with one official saying an attack by drones was underway, a day after Russia carried out the biggest aerial assault since it started the war in February. FIGHTING

* Shortly after 2 a.m., Kyiv's city government issued an alert on its Telegram messaging app channel calling on residents to proceed to shelters, as air raid sirens sounded. Olekskiy Kuleba, governor of Kyiv region, said on Telegram that an "attack by drones" was under way. * A Reuters witness 20 km (12 miles) south of Kyiv heard several explosions and the sound of anti-aircraft fire.

* Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, in a video address on Thursday night, said air commands in central, southern, eastern and western Ukraine repelled 54 Russian missiles and 11 drones on Thursday. Officials had earlier said more than 120 missiles were fired during Thursday's assault. * More than 18 residential buildings and 10 critical infrastructure installations were destroyed in the latest attacks, the defence ministry said in a statement. Waves of Russian air strikes in recent months targeting energy infrastructure have left millions without power and heating in often freezing temperatures.

* Belarus' defence ministry said its air defences had downed a Ukrainian S-300 missile in a field, during one of Russia's largest missile attacks against Ukraine since the start of the war. DIPLOMACY

* There are no particular signs that Russia wants peace in Ukraine, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said, urging continued international backing for Kyiv. * Zelenskiy told the country's parliament to remain united and praised Ukrainians for helping the West "find itself again".

* The Kremlin rejected Zelenskiy's 10-point peace plan, reiterating that proposals to end the conflict must accept Russia's annexation of four Ukrainian regions: Luhansk and Donetsk in the east, and Kherson and Zaporizhzhia in the south. * Russia announced it would ban oil sales to countries that abide by a price cap imposed this month by the West.

QUOTES "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 said. (Compiled by Michael Perry)