Russia launched an air attack on Kyiv early on Sunday, with blasts ringing out across the city and its region for almost two hours and drone debris falling on several of the city’s central districts, officials said.
Ukraine’s Land Forces said that the country’s air defence systems destroyed 25 out of 32 Russia-launched Iran-made Shahed drones, most of which targeted Kyiv and the wider region.
Reuters witnesses heard at least five blasts across Kyiv, and Ukrainian media footage showed a number of cars damaged.
“Drones came onto the capital in groups and from different directions,” Serhiy Popko, head of Kyiv‘s city military administration, said on the Telegram messaging app.
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said that one person was injured in the historic Podil neighbourhood and a fire broke out near one of the city’s parks.
Debris from downed drones fell on the Darnytskyi, Solomianskyi, Shevchenkivskyi, Sviatoshynskyi and Podil districts, Klitschko and the city’s military administration said.
In the Shevchenkivskyi district, drone debris sparked a fire in an apartment, which was quickly extinguished. There were no immediate reports of injuries, Mr Popko said on the Telegram messaging app.
There was no immediate comment from Russia about the attacks.
Moscow has been conducting near-nightly assaults on Ukraine’s territory. A Russian attack killed 17 on Wednesday in the eastern city of Kostiantynivka, according to Ukrainian officials.
A Russian missile attack on President Volodymyr Zelensky’s hometown of Kryvyi Rih in central Ukraine killed one policeman and injured at least 52 others overnight on Thursday.
The Kremlin also targeted a port in the Odesa region last week just days before talks over the Black Sea grain deal were due to begin.
