An onslaught of Russian drones and missiles pounded Ukraine’s central-eastern city of Dnipro for 20 hours straight, killing eight people and wounding dozens, local authorities said on Saturday.

The attack - the largest to have ever been waged on the city - began overnight and lasted well into the afternoon, coming in waves that hit homes, businesses and energy infrastructure.

Oleksandr Ganzha, military governor of the wider Dnipropetrovsk region, said: “20 hours... For more than 20 awful hours, the Russians attacked Dnipro in waves. They struck with missiles and drones.”

Dnipro’s mayor Borys Filatov described the barrage as “the largest-scale attack on Dnipro”.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, on a visit to Azerbaijan, called for a stronger international response to Russia’s attacks.

He said: “It is important that the world does not remain silent about what is happening and that this Russian war in Europe is not overshadowed by the war in Iran.

“We count on the timely implementation of each of our political agreements to strengthen air defence.”

Rescuers spent hours sifting through debris despite the ongoing strikes, clearing out the rubble of bombed apartment buildings and searching for survivors and bodies.

The attack killed eight people and wounded 49, including two children and the mayor’s deputy. A further 10 people were wounded in the Dnipropetrovsk region. Strikes also hit the neighbouring Zaporizhzhia region, killing one person and wounding four in a civilian minibus.

Ukraine’s air force said Russia had launched 619 drones and 47 missiles overnight, adding that most of them had been repelled.

Russia has recently shifted from largely nighttime air raids to longer, periodic strikes that begin overnight and stretch well into the day.

Russia’s defence ministry said it had “launched a massive strike” on Ukrainian military targets over the past 24 hours. Moscow denies having targeted civilians throughout the four-year war.

Following the barrage, a drone crashed in Romania, a NATO and EU country bordering Ukraine, local authorities said. More than 200 people were evacuated as a precaution, and British fighter jets stationed in Romania were scrambled.

In recent months, Kyiv has stepped up its own retaliatory attacks on Russia, hitting civilians and energy infrastructure among other targets.

-AFP