Ukraine and Russia have been exchanging major drone and missile strikes, with each seeking to gain an advantage as US President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration nears

Russia launched a new barrage of missiles and drones at Ukraine on Wednesday, targeting gas infrastructure and other energy facilities in western regions in the latest strike on the country's hobbled power system as it approaches mid-winter.

The barrage appeared to be one of the largest recent assaults in Ukraine’s campaign to damage Russia’s war machine on its home territory.

Ukrainian officials say Russia has launched a major ballistic and cruise missile attack on regions across Ukraine.

Russia fires dozens of missiles at Ukrainian energy sites, forcing authorities to introduce preventive power cuts.

The scale of the assault on Wednesday was not immediately clear, but Ukraine’s energy minister called it “massive.”

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said that the Russian forces launched over 40 missiles during the morning attack and used more than 70 drones overnight. Ukrainian air defences shot down 30 missiles and 47 drones,

Russian troops pressing their slow advance through eastern Ukraine took control of two settlements in Donetsk region, Russia's Defence Ministry said on Tuesday.

Russia launched dozens of missiles and drones at the Ukrainian energy sector, Kyiv said Wednesday, ramping up a months-long bombing campaign at a precarious moment of the war for Ukraine.The barrage came just one day after Kyiv said it had carried out its largest aerial attack of the war on Russian army factories and energy hubs hundreds of kilometres from the front line.

Nikolai Patrushev, an advisor to the Russian president, stated in an interview with "Komsomolskaya Pravda" that the Russian Federation is not indifferent to what is happening in Ukraine. However, he did not rule out the possibility that Ukraine may cease to exist altogether next year.