Russia targets Kiev with yet another missile barrage, the fifth in August

Russia launched its fifth missile attack on Kiev this month, Ukraine's military has said, with preliminary data showing air defence systems were again successful in repelling the strikes.

The missile attack followed a drone attack on Kiev late on Monday, with preliminary information showing there was no damage or injuries as a result of either of the attacks, Kiev's military administration said on the Telegram messaging app.

The full scope of the attacks was not immediately known, but the Tuesday morning strikes likely involved cruise missiles, the military said.

Reuters news agency witnesses heard blasts early on Tuesday in what sounded like air defence units in operation on Kiev's outskirts.

The military said that the capital has been under air raid alerts already 41 times this month. Ukraine said on Monday it successfully repelled a Russian drone attack on Kiev.

There was no immediate comment from Moscow about Tuesday's attacks. Both sides say they target facilities key to military in their frequent drone and missile attacks, not civilian infrastructure.

Zelenskyy's call to allies

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Monday urged his allies to lift restrictions on the use of long-range weapons to strike deep into Russia.

"Ukraine is separated from halting the advance of the Russian army on the front by only one decision we await from our partners: the decision on long-range capabilities," Zelenskyy said in a speech to Ukrainian ambassadors.

Zelenskyy also said that his country's assault on Russia's Kursk region showed that Kremlin threats of retaliation were a bluff as he urged Kiev's allies to loosen curbs on using foreign-supplied weapons.

Zelenskyy said Ukrainian forces now controlled more than 1,250 square kilometres (483 square miles) and 92 settlements in Kursk region, while Russia said Ukraine had struck a third bridge in the region, complicating Russian efforts to repel the Ukrainian attack.

Ukraine launched its surprise strike on the Russian region on August 6, the biggest incursıon of Russia since World War II, in an operation that Kiev says is aimed at carving out a buffer zone and wearing down Russia's military capabilities.

Despite its thrust into Russia, Ukraine's forces are on the defensive elsewhere. They face a battle to protect the strategic eastern city of Pokrovsk, where Russia has steadily advanced in recent weeks in heavy fighting more than two years since Russia's full-scale military campaign.

Ukraine's army said late on Monday its forces had fought 63 skirmishes over the course of the day against Russian forces on the Pokrovsk front, and it expected that area to remain the focus of Russian attacks.