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Russian missiles rained down on Ukraine this morning as air raid sirens sounded in virtually every major city with explosions rocking the capital Kyiv for the first time in months, as Putin unleashed his revenge for the Crimea bridge blast at the weekend.

At least eight people were killed and 24 injured as multiple missiles hit the Ukrainian capital this morning, as Ukraine's military said 75 missiles had been fired at cities from border to border. President Zelensky said a mixture of rockets and suicide drones had attacked the cities of Dnipro and Zaporizhzhia in southern Ukraine, northern Kharkiv and Sumy, central Zhytomyr and Vinnytsia, and even far-western Ternopil and Lviv.

Speaking on the streets of Kyiv even as the attacks continued, Zelensky said the Russians were targeting power stations and civilians aiming to 'sow panic and chaos'. Russia 'is trying to wipe us off the face of the earth', he added, while vowing that such tactics would not succeed.

Adviser Mykhailo Podolyak said the strikes showed 'the Kremlin's terrorist inadequacy' after a string of embarrassing battlefield defeats. Oleksii Reznikov, the defence minister, said Ukraine's courage would never be broken and 'that the only thing they demolish is the future of [Russia] - a future of a globally despised rogue terrorist state.'

Videos and pictures from the Ukrainian capital showed burning cars and bodies in the streets as officials said the rockets had hit close to a well-known memorial to a famous statesman, near a children's play area in a park, and a pedestrian bridge. More footage showed an apartment block in Dnipro in flames.