Kyiv, Ukraine - Dozens of people were injured and at least seven killed after a wave of Russian missiles targeted Kyiv and other cities across Ukraine, setting residential buildings ablaze and reducing others to rubble.

Rescue workers in Kharkiv, Ukraine's second-largest city near Russia's border, hauled injured residents from the scene of an attack where smoke rose from smoldering piles of rubble, AFP journalists reported.

The regional governor said three residents were killed Tuesday in an overnight barrage and another 42 had been wounded.

Medical workers treat one wounded man with blood smeared across his face, AFP saw.

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AFP journalists in Kyiv meanwhile heard air raid sirens echo over the capital at night, followed by a series of loud blasts – thought to be air defense systems responding to the incoming aerial onslaught.

Ukrainian army chief Valery Zaluzhny said Russian forces had fired 41 missiles – including cruise, ballistic and surface-to-air missiles as part of the barrage – adding that his forces had shot down 21.

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said 20 people were wounded in an attack that set buildings and cars ablaze in central districts of the city.

In the surrounding region, officials said four people were wounded after residential blocks, private homes and farm buildings were damaged.

Further south, in the city of Pavlograd, the Dnipropetrovsk governor said one person had been killed and another wounded.

"We must make Russia pay for the suffering and pain it has caused to Ukraine," Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shymgal said in response to the attack.

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The Kremlin, meanwhile, denied Russian forces had targeted civilian infrastructure and vowed to continue its nearly two-year invasion.

"We are continuing our special military operation, and our military does not hit social facilities and residential neighborhoods, and does not hit civilians – unlike the Kyiv regime," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

This was an apparent reference to a recent uptick in fatal drone and missile attacks that Russian forces have blamed on Kyiv, targeting cities and energy facilities near the countries' shared border.

There are no reliable figures of the overall death toll in Ukraine, but the UN has documented at least 10,200 deaths – including 575 children – and 19,300 wounded.

The real figures are likely to be considerably higher.