Kyiv: Russian missile strikes on Kyiv wounded six people on Saturday, Ukrainian officials said, as Moscow intensifies its aerial bombardment of the capital.

Moscow has targeted Kyiv with missiles and drones on an almost daily basis since initiating its full-scale invasion in February 2022. However, a recent wave of lethal barrages deploying dozens of hyper-fast ballistic missiles has put a severe strain on Ukraine's air defence systems.

"The number of injured in the capital has risen to six," Tymur Tkachenko, head of Kyiv's military administration, wrote in a statement on the Telegram messaging app.

Tkachenko had earlier confirmed that Russia was "attacking the capital with missiles" and instructed local residents to remain in bomb shelters.

Three of the casualties required hospital treatment, whilst the remaining three were treated at the scene, he noted, without giving additional details regarding their conditions.

AFP journalists stationed in Kyiv reported hearing two distinct series of explosions during the early hours of Saturday, with air raid sirens echoing across the city only minutes after the initial detonation.

The delayed warning echoed a similar Russian assault earlier in the week, when the detonation of a missile over the Kyiv skyline woke sleeping residents before municipal air raid sirens could be activated.

The Saturday strikes occurred just one day after Ukrainian drone attacks struck oil refineries in southern Russia, part of Kyiv's ongoing campaign to target the energy infrastructure of its adversary.

AFP