Russia launched on Saturday morning its most intense drone attack on Ukraine since the beginning of its full-scale invasion in 2022, targeting the Ukrainian capital, military officials said.
“Kyiv was the main target,” wrote Ukrainian Air Force Commander Mykola Oleshchuk, on his Telegram channel.
In total, Russia launched 75 Iranian-made Shahed drones against Ukraine, of which 74 were destroyed by air defence, Ukraine’s air force said.
The attack was “the most massive air attack by drones on Kyiv”, said Serhii Popko, head of the Kyiv city administration.
Ukrainian air force spokesman, Yurii Ihnat, confirmed later that the air defence shot down 66 air targets over the capital and surrounding region throughout the morning.
At least five civilians were wounded in the hours-long drone assault on Kyiv, which saw several buildings damaged, including a kindergarten. The wounded included an 11-year-old child, according to Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko.
The assault on Kyiv began at 4am local time, continuing in waves for over six hours, and caused power outages in 77 residential buildings and 120 institutions, according to Popko.
Ukraine’s energy ministry said 17,000 people were without power in the Kyiv region as a result of the attack, noting that four power lines were damaged.
“Our soldiers shot down most of the drones. Unfortunately, not all,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky wrote on Telegram. “But we continue to work to strengthen our air defence and shoot down more,” he said.
We must think how to stop ‘the tragedy’ in Ukraine, Putin tells G20
We must think how to stop ‘the tragedy’ in Ukraine, Putin tells G20
In addition to Kyiv, the Sumy, Dnipropetrovsk, Zaporizhzhia, Mykolaiv and Kirovohrad regions were also targeted.
The attack was carried out on the morning of Holodomor Memorial Day which commemorates the man-made famine in Soviet Ukraine that killed millions of Ukrainians from 1932 to 1933, and is marked on the fourth Saturday in November.