Ukraine carnage LIVE: NATO scrambles fighter jets on Putin's 'most intense attack yet'

Russia has staged the most intense attacks of the war on western Ukraine, forcing NATO to scramble warplanes to intervene.

President Vladimir Putin used his nuclear-capable Tu-95MS and Tu-160 strategic bombers to hammer Ukraine in what was already the most intense week of the war for kamikaze drone strikes. Estimates suggested between 20 and 30 missiles and up to 700 military drones were unleashed on the major cities of Lviv, Lutsk and Chernivtsi.

Two people were confirmed killed in Chernivtsi, close to the Romanian border, with at least 18 wounded in the overnight strikes which yet again targeted civilians. Acrid smoke clung over the city after the terror strikes.