Russia Launches Drones And Cruise Missiles At Kyiv With Residents Urged To Stay In Shelters2 min read
Russia launched a new wave of air attacks on Kyiv in early hours on Monday using drones and cruise missiles, with the military administration of the Ukrainian capital saying defence forces shot down more than 40 targets.
Explosions were heard in the heart of the Ukrainian capital after an air-raid warning, witnesses said. Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko said there had been explosions in the city centre and urged residents to stay in shelters.
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky applauded the country’s air defence forces after the capital endured the largest drone attack since the beginning of the Russian invasion on Sunday as residents celebrated Kyiv Day.
A wave of drones hit the capital in the early hours during the annual celebration of the city’s founding 1,541 years ago. Falling debris killed a 41-year-old man, Mr Klitschko said, while several other people were injured.
Mr Zelensky said that “most of the lives that could have been taken by the [strikes] were saved” and thanked “each and everyone” of the people who had participated in defending the city.
Meanwhile, Russia struck a military target in Ukraine’s western region of Khmelnytskiy in airstrikes early on Monday, the regional governor said. Emergency services are still working to contain fires caused by the damage in the western region.
“At the moment, work is continuing to contain fires in storage facilities for fuel and lubricants and munitions,” Reuters reports the Khmelnytskiy regional governor’s office wrote on the Telegram messaging app.
Suspilne, Ukraine’s state broadcaster, said Russia had launched up to 40 cruise missiles and roughly 35 drones over Ukraine.
Ukraine’s air defences shot down 37 missiles and 29 of the Iranian-made Shahed drones, causing debris to fall in several districts of Kyiv and the region.
There have been no reports of dead or injured civilians.
“Russia attacked targets in the Khmelnytskyi region: one of them is a military one,” the broadcaster said. “Five aircraft were disabled, and fires broke out in fuel and lubricant warehouses. Fires are being extinguished and the runway is being restored.”
It reported that shards of a kamikaze drone, shot down in the city of Odesa, hit the port, causing a fire.
Elsewhere, a rocket was reportedly shot down over Lviv oblast. Debris from the rocket set fire to an outbuilding and a tractor but caused no injuries.
“In Kirovohrad oblast, debris from a downed drone damaged the roof of a residential building and a railway track,” Suspilne reported. “There are no casualties.”
“Three Shahed drones were shot down in Mykolaiv oblast. Air defence forces also worked in the Poltava region: they shot down two missiles and a drone.”
Local media reports said the movement of supplies was disrupted in the small city of Snihurivka in the Mykolaiv region, due to overnight shelling.
The attack on the western city follows the shelling of a medical facility in Dnipro earlier this week, which killed two people and left 30 injured.
Russia and Ukraine have now been at war for 460 days.
