News - Middle East: Russia has fired various missiles, including the hypersonic nuclear-capable Kinzhal, pounding the Ukrainian capital, Kiev, and other cities.

The Ukrainian air force said Russian forces had fired 81 high-powered missiles of different types in a "massive" pre-dawn attack on Thursday.

“The attack is really large-scale and for the first time using such different types of missiles. We see that this time as many as six Kinzhal were used. This is an attack like I don’t remember seeing before,” said Colonel Yurii Ihnat, spokesman for the Air Force Command of Ukraine.

Russian defense ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said all targets had been hit during Russia's "retaliation" missile strike on Ukraine in response to a recent incursion in Russian Bryansk region.

Konashenkov also said during the strike Ukrainian "UAV bases were destroyed, transfer of reserves and transportation by train of foreign equipment were thwarted." 

According to the Ukrainian military, an unspecified number of combat drones sent from Russia aided the missile barrage against designated targets in the ex-Soviet republic.

The unprecedented aerial assault, which set off air raid sirens all across Ukraine early Thursday, killed at least six people and damaged critical infrastructure or residential buildings across the country.

"The enemy used a wide spectrum of weapons. Why are they doing this? In order to distract air defense units. They carried out an attack with various types of aircraft and vessels of the Black Sea Fleet from all fronts, from three seas, basically - the Black Sea, the Sea of Azov and the Caspian Sea," Ihnat said.

The military also said that its forces managed to destroy 34 cruise missiles and four suicide drones, and prevent at least eight drones and guided missiles from reaching their targets.

The hypersonic missiles, however, pierced Ukrainian air defenses as Kiev currently does not possess any assets to intercept them.

“So far, we have no capabilities to counter these weapons,” Ihnat said, referring to the nuclear-capable Kinzhal, plus six X-22 air-launched cruise missiles that were also launched by Russian forces.