The explosions happened at around 7 am local time, said the BBC. One of them sounded close to the city centre.

It comes a week after Kyiv was hit by several Russian missiles at rush hour, in a nationwide attack which left 19 dead.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said the strikes last week were in retaliation for the bombing of a key bridge linking Russia to occupied Crimea, which he blamed on Ukraine.

It was the first time during the war that the centre of Kyiv was directly targeted.

Putin also said most designated targets had been hit, and there was no need for more large-scale strikes on Ukraine. He said it was not his aim to destroy the country.

(With UNI inputs)