By Andrew E. Kramer, Marc Santora and Daniel Victor

KYIV — Russian forces launched drones and missiles at Ukrainian cities overnight Thursday (4), after each side blamed the other for explosions at the Kremlin that raised fears of an escalation in the war.

In the capital, Kyiv, Ukrainian air defences shot down drones and ballistic-style missiles, a regional official said, in the third Russian attack on the city in four days. In the southern city of Odesa, the Ukrainian military’s southern command said drones were shot down and provided images that suggested that some had the handwritten messages ‘For Moscow’ and ‘For the Kremlin’ on them.

There were no reports of casualties in those incidents. But in the southern region of Kherson, officials raised the death toll from Russian shelling Wednesday (3) to 23 people, making it one of the deadliest barrages in Ukraine this year.

The United States and Ukraine both said they feared that Russia would seek to intensify attacks after the explosions over the Kremlin on Wednesday, which were apparently caused by drones.

Russia blamed Ukraine for the episode, calling it an assassination attempt on President Vladimir Putin, and said it reserved the right to retaliate. Ukraine, which typically maintains deliberate ambiguity over responsibility for attacks inside Russia, categorically denied involvement and accused Moscow of manufacturing the incident as a pretext for further aggression and to stir up public support.

Early Thursday, it remained unclear who was responsible for the explosions, which occurred 15 minutes apart. The US Embassy in Kyiv issued a warning late Wednesday that there was a heightened risk of Russian missile attacks, including in the Ukrainian capital and surrounding area, citing “the recent uptick in strikes across Ukraine and inflammatory rhetoric from Moscow”.

In Kyiv, three loud booms rattled windows about 2:30 a.m. local time Thursday and police cordoned off what appeared to be debris from a missile or drone shot out of the sky over a central neighbourhood. Some nearby windows were shattered, and the smell of smoke hung in the air.

Russian forces also attacked the southern port city of Odesa with at least 15 drones, Ukraine’s southern military command said. The Ukrainians shot down 12, but three got through the air defence network and crashed into dorms for an educational institution. There were no reports of casualties, the Ukrainian military said.

In towns and cities closer to the sprawling front line in eastern and southern Ukraine, there were also reports of widespread bombardments. The damage was being assessed early Thursday morning.

-New York Times