Russia has targeted the regions of Kyiv, Khmelnytskiy and Kirovohrad in a second missile strike on Ukraine in a day as its air force chief said the barrage had been repelled.
Air Force Commander Mykola Oleshchuk, writing on Telegram, said anti-aircraft units had downed 36 targets - three Kalibr cruise missiles and 33 cruise missiles.
A later statement indicated that information was still being collated on Kindzhal missiles also used in the attack.
"The day turned out to be difficult but thanks to the harmonious work of all those defending the skies, we repelled this attack! Thanks to everyone!" Oleshchuk wrote.
There were no immediate reports of damage from the missile launches or anti-aircraft activity.
Authorities in the western Khmelnytskiy region confirmed the sound of explosions.
"We have registered high-speed targets, probably also ballistic missiles, the enemy is using different weapons types," air force spokesman Yuriy Ihnat said in televised comments.
He said some missiles had travelled towards the city of Starokostiantyniv, the site of a Ukrainian military airfield.
He said the missiles had taken a highly convoluted route, even making a 180-degree turn at one point.
Ukrainian air defences thwarted an earlier attack on Wednesday afternoon, shooting down two Kalibr cruise missiles over the central city of Vinnytsia that appeared to have been fired by a submarine in the Black Sea, the air force said.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Sunday that while Ukraine had recaptured half the territory that Russia initially seized, a Ukrainian counteroffensive was in its early days and would take shape over "several months".
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Wednesday that Ukrainian forces had achieved "very good results" on the front line and he promised to provide details of their successes soon.
"By the way, today our boys had very good results at the front," Zelenskiy said in his nightly video address.
"Good for them! Details will follow."
Ukrainian officials said earlier on Wednesday their troops were gradually advancing in the south and the military is about to receive a consignment of 1700 strike and reconnaissance drones to help with the counteroffensive.
Hanna Maliar, the deputy defence minister, reported advances towards the southern occupied cities of Melitopol and Berdyansk which is on the Sea of Azov and said Ukrainian troops were also successfully attacking in the east on the flanks of occupied Bakhmut.
Russia, which sent tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine in February 2022, holds swathes of territory in the south and east.
Maliar reported Ukrainian "successes" in the southeast, including near Staromayorske, a village near a cluster of hamlets that Ukraine recaptured in the Donetsk region this northern hemisphere summer.
"Battles continue near Staromayorske, our defenders have successes, they were gaining a foothold on the reached frontiers," she said.
In the east, Maliar said Ukrainian forces continued to repel Russian advances in the direction of Kupiansk and Lyman, which Ukraine retook last year.
Fierce fighting raged, she said, near the villages of Klishchiivka, Kurdyumivka and Andriivka on the southern flank of Bakhmut, a small city reduced to ruins in a bloody, months-long battle that gave Russian forces control of the area for now.
Despite steady foreign military aid, Ukrainian military officials have said Russia still has an advantage in artillery, tanks and manpower.
Mykhailo Fedorov, a deputy prime minister, said 1700 drones were on their way to the front lines to help the offensive.
"All of them are now going to the front to protect the lives of our soldiers, to make our artillery even more accurate, to destroy the enemy," Fedorov said in a video that showed hundreds of drones laid out in rows on a field.
Ukraine has tried different tactics to take out Russian artillery, air defences, munition warehouses and logistic routes.
Ukrainian producers have sharply increased domestic drone production and more than 10,000 drone operators have been already trained with another 10,000 currently receiving training, Fedorov said.
