Waves of “Kamikaze drones” struck Kyiv today soon after the Kremlin took delivery of hundreds of deadly weapons from Iran.
Tehran’s cargo planes landed in Moscow’s Vnukovo airport at the weekend, heralding a new campaign of terror on Ukraine ’s civilian population.
It is believed Moscow has ordered more than 2,000 of the drones, amid fears Russia will deploy them in “swarms” in a bid to beat Ukraine’s air defences.
The Kremlin also took delivery of Fateh-100 and Zolfaghar ballistic missiles from Tehran, delivered in a heavy transport II-76 Iranian cargo plane.
Explosive-tipped Shahed-136 drones smashed into Kyiv on Monday, setting buildings alight, killing three and sending residents dashing into shelters.
The port of Mykolaiv was also attacked by drones as Russia launched airstrikes on Odesa and up to 16 cruise missiles were fired from the Black Sea.
One drone that piled into Kyiv was marked “For Belgorod” - indicating it was in revenge for attacks on facilities in the town at the weekend It marked the second horror barrage in as many weeks - after months during which air attacks had become a rarity in central Kyiv.
By midday a swarm of at least 28 drones had been sent against the capital, many of them shot down in what Mayor Vitali Klitschko dubbed: “Terrorism.”
Energy facilities were struck, and one drone slammed into a residential building, killing three people, authorities in Kyiv said.
Intense, sustained bursts of gunfire rang out as the aircraft buzzed overhead, as soldiers tried to shoot them down.
Five drones plunged into Kyiv itself, said Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal.
Three bodies were recovered from the rubble, including those of a woman who was six months pregnant and her husband, said Mr Klitschko.
The other person killed there was an older woman.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said: “The whole night, and the whole morning, the enemy terrorises the civilian population.
“Kamikaze drones and missiles are attacking all of Ukraine. The enemy can attack our cities, but it won’t be able to break us.”
A photo of debris from one of Monday’s strikes, posted by Mr Klitschko, showed the word Geran-2 marked on a mangled tail-fin.
The 11-foot-long monsters, costing £17,000 each are fired vertically by rockets and then scream toward their targets at great speed.
The Mirror recently revealed dozens of Iran’s elite Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps troops are in Ukraine teaching Russians how to operate the Shaheds.
The strike on Kyiv comes as fighting has intensified in the eastern regions of Donetsk and Luhansk as well as the continued Ukrainian counteroffensive in the south near Kherson and Zaporizhzhia.
