By Pavel Polityuk and Vladyslav Smilianets

KYIV (Reuters) – Loud explosions rocked Ukraine’s capital Kyiv early on Monday as Russia launched a barrage of missiles, sparking fires and damaging homes and infrastructure, officials said.

Residents across the city were awoken by a quick succession of bangs and the sound of air defence missiles blasting off skyward to intercept targets.

The air force said it had destroyed 22 out of 35 missiles and 20 of 23 attack drones. It listed several types of cruise and ballistic missiles used by Russia.

Air raid alerts sounded across Ukraine for nearly two hours before the air force declared the skies clear at 6:30 a.m. (0330 GMT). Neighbouring NATO member Poland activated Polish and allied aircraft to keep its airspace safe during the attacks.

The broad bombardment, a week after Russia unleashed its largest air attack on Ukraine since full-scale war began early in 2022, coincided with the return to school for many children.

Yevheniia, a 33-year-old mother, tried to put on a brave face as she took her 6-year-old daughter Margo to her first ever day of school.

The occasion is celebrated in Ukraine, much as it is in Russia, with parents buying large bouquets of flowers for their young children.

“Her hands were shaking, we woke up. Our apartment started to stink of smoke, but we still need to go to school, right? We are Ukrainians,” she said, while her little daughter nodded.

A boiler house at a Kyiv water plant was partially damaged, as was the entrance to a metro station doubling as a bomb shelter in Svyatoshynksyi district, Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said on Telegram, although the station was still operating.

The district is home to a cluster of universities and schools.

The attack injured three people, city military authorities said, adding that two of those were taken to hospital.

Cars were set ablaze across the city as well as at a non-residential building in the Shevchenkivskyi district, mayor Klitschko said.

Emergency services rushed to several locations, including the Svyatoshynskyi, Solomyanskyi and Holosiivskyi districts, where debris had fallen from destroyed missiles.

The Solomyanskyi district is home to a major train station and Kyiv’s main airport. The historic Svyatoshynskyi district is on the city’s western edge, while Holosiivskyi is in the southwest.

Kateryna, 34, had come to the market in Svyatoshyno to buy flowers for her child starting school.

“Some of the florists were here from five in the morning, they had to drop and hide,” she said.

An Islamic centre was also badly damaged in the attack, Crimean Tatar leader Refat Chubarov said on Telegram.

Reuters journalists in Kyiv heard a series of loud explosions from what sounded like the work of air defence units, some in the central area.

Last Monday, Russia fired more than 200 missiles and drones at Ukraine, killing seven people and striking energy facilities nationwide in what Kyiv called the war’s “most massive” attack.

Russia denies targeting civilians in the 30-month-old war.

(Reporting by Pavel Polityuk, Vladyslav Smilianets, Valentyn Ogirenko; Writing by Lidia Kelly in Melbourne and Max Hunder in Kyiv; Editing by Clarence Fernandez and Kevin Liffey)