A residential building located close to the government district shook from the explosions and dozens of people took shelter in an underground metro station in central Kyiv, AFP reporters saw, as officials urged people to take cover.

"The capital has come under a mass ballistic missile attack," Tymur Tkachenko, head of the Kyiv City Military Administration, wrote on Telegram.

"There are currently reports of at least 4 locations affected by the attack: Shevchenkivsky, Dniprovsky and Podilsky districts. Fires and damage to residential buildings are preliminarily reported," he added.

"A strike drone attack is ongoing; the ballistic missile threat remains present. Stay in shelters!"

Kyiv's Mayor Vitali Klitschko said medical teams were called to the Podilsky district in the northwest where debris fell in a non-residential area, and a fire started near a residential building in the nearby Shevchenkivsky district, with windows damaged.

On Saturday Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned of the risk of a major Russian airstrike in the coming hours with weapons including the Oreshnik, a Russian nuclear-capable missile.