Russia launched its largest aerial assault on Ukraine since the beginning of the war, targeting cities across the country with a barrage of missile and drone strikes.

Overnight, high-velocity projectiles rained down near a maternity hospital and on a shopping centre in the central city of Dnipro, while an attack in the capital Kyiv set a high-rise residential building ablaze as air raid sirens sounded nationwide.

Hypersonic, ballistic and cruise missiles, as well as Iranian-made kamikaze drones, were also launched at Zaporizhzhia, Kharkiv, Odesa, Konotop and Lviv, in the west.

Scores of deaths and injuries were reported in the attacks, an apparent retaliation for the destruction of the Novocherkassk warship in occupied Crimea.

Ukrainian Air Force spokesman Yurii Ihnat said Russian forces had launched 158 missiles and drones in total, claiming 114 had been downed.

“We have never seen so many targets on our monitors at once,” he said, adding Russia had  “apparently launched everything they have”.

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky said Moscow’s forces had fired 110 missiles, most of which were shot down by Ukrainian air defence.

“Unfortunately, as a result of the shelling, there are dead and wounded,” he said, before vowing to “respond to the terrorists’ blows”.

“We will fight to guarantee the safety of our country, every city and all of our people. Russian terror must lose - and it will.”

The deadly strikes came days after Ukrainian forces used a British-made Storm Shadow cruise missile to destroy the Russian Novocherkassk as it was docked in the port of Feodosiya, in south-eastern Crimea.

Russia has frequently responded to Ukraine’s military successes with devastating attacks on civilian infrastructure.

James Rushton, an independent military analyst based in Kyiv, said: “Ukraine destroys a Russian landing ship, so Russia bombs a maternity hospital, shopping centres, apartment blocks and other civilian targets all over Ukraine; there’s no other description for this than state terrorism.”

In Dnipro, at least four people were confirmed dead and at least 10 others injured, the regional governor Serhii Lysak said.

“There is no forgiveness for the Russian bastards,” he added.

A six-storey building and a house were also damaged in the attack on the city, Mr Lysak said.

There were no reported casualties from the strike on the maternity hospital. Video footage from the scene appeared to show one wing of the medical facility engulfed in flames, while windows were blown out across the building.

The blaze has since been extinguished, according to local authorities.

The shopping centre that had been struck was also engulfed in fire and thick clouds of black smoke.

Meanwhile, in Kyiv, one person was found dead under the rubble of a warehouse in the capital’s Shevchenkivskyi district, with three others freed alive by search and rescue specialists.

At least 17 people were wounded and seven were rushed to hospital, mayor Vitali Klitschko said.

Images circulated on social media appeared to show a high-rise building on fire after what was understood to be debris from a downed Russian weapon smashed into it.

The Lukianivska metro station was rocked by an explosion, while a 3,000 square metre fire has engulfed a warehouse in the Podilskyi district, the capital’s military administration said.

The authorities said air defence forces had downed more than 30 targets over Kyiv alone during a barrage of attacks that lasted about five hours.

More than 20 missiles were launched at the north-eastern city of Kharkiv, striking warehouses, a medical building and an ambulance.

Governor Oleh Syniehubov said at least one person was killed and 11 others were injured.

Authorities in Lviv, 43 miles from the Polish and Nato border, said a “critical infrastructure” facility was on fire there after 10 Shahed drones attacked.

One person died and eight were injured, officials said.

In southeastern Zaporizhzhia, a woman was killed and 10 others were injured, military governor Yuriy Malashko said.

Authorities in the southern port city of Odesa said two people had been killed after two residential buildings were targeted in the bombardment.

Governor Oleh Kiper said a further 15 people, including two young children, had been injured.

At least 12 people were killed and 75 were injured in the Russian attacks throughout Ukraine, according to the Ministry of Internal Affairs.