Russia has struck Ukraine with a thunderous aerial bombardment, further dampening hopes that the warring sides could reach a peace deal anytime soon,  days after Kyiv embarrassed the Kremlin with a surprising drone attack on military airfields.

The barrage was one of the fiercest of the three-year war, lasting several hours, striking six Ukrainian territories, and killing at least six people and injuring about 80 others, Ukrainian officials said.Among the dead were three emergency responders in Kyiv and someone who was pulled from the rubble of an apartment building in a northwestern city.

The attack came after US President Donald Trump said his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, told him Moscow would respond to Ukraine's attack on Russian military airfields. It was also hours after Trump said it might be better to let Ukraine and Russia "fight for a while" before pulling them apart and pursuing peace.

The aftermath of a Russian drone and missile strike in Kyiv. – Reuters

Trump's comments were a remarkable detour from his often-stated appeals to stop the war and signalled he may be giving up on recent peace efforts.

Ukrainian cities have come under regular bombardment since Russia invaded its neighbour in February 2022. The attacks have killed more than 12,000 civilians, according to the United Nations.

"Russia doesn’t change its stripes," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said.

The war has continued unabated even as a US-led diplomatic push for a settlement has brought two rounds of direct peace talks between delegations from Russia and Ukraine. The negotiations delivered no significant breakthroughs, however, and the sides remain far apart on their terms for an end to the fighting.

Russia strikes Ternopil in west Ukraine, leaving parts without power. – Reuters

Ukraine has offered an unconditional 30-day ceasefire and a meeting between Zelensky and Russian leader Vladimir Putin to break the deadlock. But the Kremlin has effectively rejected a truce and hasn't budged from its demands.

"The Kremlin continues efforts to falsely portray Russia as willing to engage in good-faith negotiations to end the war in Ukraine, despite Russia's repeated refusal to offer any concessions," the Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based think tank, said.

Further peace talks between Russian and Ukrainian are expected in coming weeks, as is another exchange of prisoners of war.

The attack involved 407 Russian drones and 44 ballistic and cruise missiles, Ukrainian air force spokesperson Yurii Ihnat said. Ukrainian forces said they shot down about 30 of the cruise missiles and up to 200 of the drones.

Paramedics rescue injured after deadly Russian attack on Kyiv. – Reuters

The Kyiv emergency workers were killed while responding to the strikes. "They were working under fire to help people," the Interior Ministry said in a statement.

Russia's Defence Ministry said it aimed at Ukrainian military targets with "long-range precision weapons" and successfully struck arms depots, drone factories and repair facilities, among other targets.

But fitting a pattern for Russian attacks throughout the war, Friday's bombardment also struck apartment buildings and other non-military targets.

In Kyiv, explosions were heard for hours as falling drone debris sparked fires across several districts, said Tymur Tkachenko, head of the Kyiv City Administration. He urged people to seek shelter.

Vitalina Vasylchenko, a 14-year-old Kyiv resident, sheltered in a parking garage with her 6-year-old sister and their mother after an explosion blew one of their windows off its hinges.

"I heard a buzzing sound, then my dad ran to me and covered me with his hand," she said. "Then there was a very loud explosion. My whole life flashed before my eyes — I already thought that was it. I started having a panic attack. ... I'm shocked that I'm alive."

In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Emergency Service, an emergency vehicle damaged in Russia's missile attack is seen in the street in Kyiv. – AP

In Kyiv's Solomyanskyi district, a fire broke out on the 11th floor of a 16-story apartment building. Emergency services evacuated three people from the burning unit. The attack caused a blackout in some areas, and more than 2,000 households on Kyiv's eastern bank were without power, city officials said.

Elsewhere, 10 people were injured by an aerial attack on the western city of Ternopil, regional governor Viacheslav Nehoda said. The strike damaged industrial and infrastructure facilities, left parts of the city without electricity, and disrupted water supplies.

Russia also targeted the western Lviv and Khmelnytskyi regions, the northern Chernihiv region, and the central Poltava region, where at least three people were injured.

In Russia, air defences shot down 10 Ukrainian drones heading toward the capital, Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said. As a precaution, flights at Moscow airports were temporarily suspended.

Ukrainian drones also targeted three other regions of Russia, authorities said, damaging apartment buildings and industrial plants. Three people were injured, officials said.

Aftermath of an intense Russian air attack on Ukraine's capital. – Reuters

Russia's Defence Ministry said that air defences downed 174 Ukrainian drones over 13 regions. It added that three Ukrainian Neptune missiles were also shot down over the Black Sea.

Ukraine struck airfields and other military targets in Russia, such as fuel storage tanks and transport hubs, the Ukrainian General Staff said.

Also, a locomotive derailed early Friday in the Belgorod region after the track was blown up, Belgorod Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said. Russia has recently accused Ukraine of sabotaging the rail network.

Moment: Multiple missiles strike Ukraine's Lutsk. – Reuters

Falling concrete blocks from the building crushed cars parked below. Two police investigators were examining what appeared to be the drone's engine.

Earlier in the night, reporters heard the sound of Russian drones buzzing in the sky, accompanied by the sounds of outgoing fire from Ukrainian anti-aircraft batteries.

Zelensky called for concerted pressure on Russia.

"If someone is not applying pressure and is giving the war more time to take lives – that is complicity and accountability. We must act decisively," he wrote on X.

The Ukrainian military said it had launched a pre-emptive strike overnight on the Engels and Dyagilevo airfields in the Russian regions of Saratov and Ryazan, in addition to striking at least three fuel reservoirs.

In one of the most audacious attacks of the three-year-old war between Ukraine and Russia, Ukrainian spies last weekend destroyed some of Russia's strategic bomber aircraft on the ground using quadrocopter drones hidden in wooden sheds.

After a phone conversation with Putin mid-week, Trump said the Kremlin was planning an unspecified response to the Ukrainian attack on the Russian air bases.

Rescue workers extinguish a fire of a house destroyed by a Russian drone strike in Pryluky village, Ukraine. – AP