In a significant escalation of hostilities, Russia launched its most intense drone attack on Ukraine since the commencement of its full-scale invasion in 2022, targeting the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, according to military officials.
Ukrainian Air Force Commander Mykola Oleshchuk, in a communication on his Telegram channel, confirmed that Kyiv was the primary target of the drone assault.
Atotal of approximately 75 Iranian-made Shahed drones were launched by Russia, with Ukraine’s armed forces reporting the successful interception and destruction of 71 of them through air defense measures.
The assault on Kyiv commenced at 4 am local time and persisted in waves for over six hours. Serhii Popko, head of the Kyiv city administration, described it as the most massive air attack by drones on the capital.
He noted that more than 60 air targets were shot down by air defense throughout the morning, causing power outages in 77 residential buildings and 120 institutions.
Despite the intensity of the attack, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy reassured the public on Telegram, stating, “Our soldiers shot down most of the drones.
Unfortunately, not all. But we continue to work to strengthen our air defense and shoot down more.”
The drone assault resulted in at least five civilians being wounded, including an 11-year-old child, according to Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko.
Several buildings, including a kindergarten, suffered damage during the attack.
In addition to Kyiv, other regions targeted included Sumy, Dnipropetrovsk, Zaporizhzhia, Mykolaiv, and Kirovohrad.
The timing of the assault on Kyiv coincided with Holodomor Memorial Day, which commemorates the man-made famine in Soviet Ukraine from 1932 to 1933, marking a somber day in Ukrainian history.
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