Vladimir Putin’s military unleashed a huge air strike on Kyiv after Ukraine reportedly launched its biggest drone attack on Russia so far in the war.
Putin’s armed forces fired a barrage of drones, cruise and ballistic missiles at Kyiv, Ukraine’s air force said early Monday.
Several series of explosions rocked the Ukrainian capital in the early hours of Monday, sending residents into bomb shelters.
Kyiv Mayor Vitalii Klitschko said emergency services were called to the Holosiivskyi and Solomianskyi districts of Kyiv.
One person was reportedly injured by falling debris in Shevchenkivskyi district, Mr Klitschko said.
“There will be an answer for everything. The enemy will feel it,” said the head of the Presidential Office, Andrii Yermak.
According to the air force, Russia fired several groups of cruise missiles accompanied by ballistic missile launches and a few drones, targeting Kyiv.
Serhii Popko, head of Kyiv’s city military administration, said over 10 cruise missiles, about 10 ballistic missiles and a drone fired at the Ukrainian capital and its suburbs were destroyed by Ukraine’s air defences.
The barrage comes a day after Russia’s military reported intercepting and destroying 158 Ukrainian drones targeting multiple Russian regions in one of the biggest Ukrainian attacks of the war that has raged for more than two-and-a-half years.
It also comes weeks after Ukranian forces’ incursion into Russia’s Kursk region, which Moscow’s forces have struggled to push back so far and to which the Kremlin has vowed to respond.
Putin declared a state of emergency in the area affected by the surprise Ukraine advance.
NEW: Ukrainian forces reportedly conducted the largest series of drone strikes against targets within Russia on the night of August 31 to September 1.
— Institute for the Study of War (@TheStudyofWar) September 1, 2024
Ukrainian forces continued to conduct assaults in Kursk Oblast on September 1, but there were no confirmed Ukrainian advances.… pic.twitter.com/aqBzrDkDyv
The Institute for the Study of War stressed: “Ukrainian forces reportedly conducted the largest series of drone strikes against targets within Russia on the night of August 31 to September 1.”
The Washington-based think tank added: “Ukrainian forces continued to conduct assaults in Kursk Oblast (province) on September 1, but there were no confirmed Ukrainian advances.
“Russian forces recently advanced north of Kharkiv City, southeast of Kupyansk, southeast of Pokrovsk, and southwest of Donetsk City.”
Ukrainian media also reported a major explosion in Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second largest city.
Oleh Syniehubov, head of the Kharkiv region, confirmed an early morning strike on Kharkiv’s Industrialnyi district and said it set a residential building and several others on fire.
