Rescuers work on a site after a Russian strike on residential neighbourhood in Markhalivka village, Kyiv region, Ukraine on May 25. (AP)

Russia has targeted Ukraine for a second consecutive night with drones and missiles, killing at least 12 people as the two countries pursue a major prisoner swap. Ukraine’s air force said on Sunday that Russian forces attacked Ukrainian regions with 298 drones and 69 missiles overnight, one of the largest aerial attacks of the war.

Russian air defense systems shot down 105 Ukrainian drones overnight on May 22, including 35 intercepted over Moscow Oblast, the Russian Defense Ministry claimed. Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said that all the drones were flying toward the Russian capital.

Hundreds of Ukrainian kamikaze drones have flown towards Moscow in recent weeks. None appear to have even reached the Russian capital, yet the effect on the city — and the wider country — has been hugely significant.

As Ukrainian drones strike deep into Russian territory, they are disrupting day-to-day life and reminding Russians that the war is not confined to the trenches.

Russia, using missiles and drones, launched one of the biggest assaults on the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, since the beginning of the war more than three years ago and hours after a prisoner exchange began.

Thousands of troops are taking part in military drills in northern Finland, close to the alliance's border with Russia.

Sergei Sobyanin, Moscow's mayor, said on Wednesday that air defence forces had downed three drones en route to Russia's capital.

A massive Russian drone-and-missile attack targeted the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, and other regions in the country for a second consecutive night, killing at least 12 people and injuring dozens, officials said early Sunday.

Ukraine pioneered the use of small drones on the battlefield. But in Russia’s Kursk region, Moscow’s fiber-optic cables helped turn the tide.