Moment huge explosion rocks Kyiv turning night sky orange ‘like lightning’ as Russian airstrikes intensify

Blast also hits city’s railway station, from where thousands of refugees are desperately trying to escape

Several large explosions were felt across Kyiv overnight on Thursday as the Russian aerial bombardment of Ukraine’s capital intensified.

Footage captured in the city showed a massive, orange blast lighting up the night sky followed by a loud boom.

Local journalists reported that air raid alerts had been triggered throughout the night with residents urged to seek shelter.

One of the blasts, caught on camera by a CBS crew, cast a bright flash of orange light across the capital.

The presenter, who was forced to duck for cover after a second huge explosion followed within seconds, described it as “a big flash” and “almost like lightning”.

Another clip shared on social media showed what appeared to be an orange fireball erupt on the horizon.

Following heavy overnight shelling of the city, Russia's Defence Ministry said it had disabled a reserve broadcasting centre in the Lysa Hora district, in the south of the city.

It said unspecified precision weapons were used, and claimed there were no casualties or damage to residential buildings.

A statement from the general staff of Ukraine's armed forces didn't address the strikes, saying only that Russian forces were "regrouping" and "trying to reach the northern outskirts" of the city.

An explosion also rocked Kyiv’s railway station, where thousands of refugees are desperately trying to escape the city.

A Ukrainian interior ministry adviser said that blast was caused by wreckage from a downed Russian cruise missile, and there were no immediate reports of casualties. It was not immediately clear whether that was the same blast that caused the orange fireball to erupt.

However, despite another night of heavy bombing, the huge armoured column of Russian tanks and soldiers which is approaching Kyiv appeared to remain stalled outside the capital, having apparently run short on fuel, food and other supplies.

"The main body of the large Russian column advancing on Kyiv remains over 30 km from the centre of the city having been delayed by staunch Ukrainian resistance, mechanical breakdown and congestion," the UK Ministry of Defence said in an intelligence update.

Footage shared on social media showed a large explosion lighting up the sky overnight (Twitter)

"The column has made little discernible progress in over three days. Despite heavy Russian shelling, the cities of Kharkiv, Chernihiv and Mariupol remain in Ukrainian hands."

A woman cries outside houses damaged by a Russian airstrike, according to locals, in Gorenka, outside the capital (AP)

A senior US defence official confirmed the column of hundreds of tanks and other vehicles appeared to be stalled and had made no real progress in the last couple of days.

"The advance on Kyiv has been rather not very organised and now they're more or less stuck," military analyst Pavel Felgenhauer told the Associated Press news agency from Moscow.

"There's no real money to run to fight this war," he said, adding that if Vladimir Putin and the military "are unable to wrap up this campaign very swiftly and victoriously, they're in a pickle."