Russia has launched a huge wave of missile strikes on Ukrainian cities, including the capital, in one of the biggest attacks on the country since the start of the war.

Poland’s armed forces said an unknown airborne object, which they identified as a Russian missile, entered the country’s airspace from the direction of Ukraine for three minutes.

Congress this month failed to approve $50bn (£39bn) in fresh security aid for Ukraine as negotiators fell short of a deal, with Republicans demanding a domestic border crackdown.

Western and Ukrainian officials have previously warned that Moscow was building up a large missile stockpile that it was planning to use this winter to target the country’s energy system.

Ukraine said its air force destroyed the Novocherkassk landing ship, with Zelenskiy quipping on social media that the vessel had joined “the Russian underwater Black Sea fleet”.

“It’s very easy to talk about Putin’s ‘peace signals’ from Washington, New York or Berlin,” wrote the prominent Ukrainian journalist, Kristina Berdynskykh, after Friday’s attack.

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