Kyiv, Ukraine (AP) — Russian drone strikes damaged five buildings in the capital Kyiv on Wednesday, even as Ukrainian air defenses thwarted many more, authorities said. No casualties were reported.
Kyiv, Ukraine (AP) — Russian drone strikes damaged five buildings in the capital Kyiv on Wednesday, even as Ukrainian air defenses thwarted many more, authorities said. No casualties were reported.
The attacks underscore how Ukraine’s largest city remains vulnerable to regular attacks from Russia that have devastated infrastructure and other population centers mainly in the east and south of the country in recent weeks.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, in a short video statement, said “terrorists” fired at 13 Iranian-made drones and all were intercepted. Such drones have been part of Russia’s firepower alongside mortar, artillery and rocket attacks in Ukraine in recent weeks.
The head of the Kyiv city administration, Serhii Popko, wrote on Telegram that the attacks came in two waves, with shrapnel from intercepted drones damaging one administrative building, while four residential buildings suffered minor damage.
The capital remained largely calm after the attack, which occurred around dawn and before the start of the working day, with the destruction appearing limited compared to the aftermath of other Russian attacks that have claimed lives and disrupted livelihoods. across the country in recent weeks.
As the working day began in Kyiv, the authorities gave the go-ahead for an air-raid warning system.
The attack left a gaping hole in the roof of a three-story administrative building in the central Shevchenkyvskyi district, and the blast blew out the windows of parked cars and a neighboring building. It was not immediately clear if there were any casualties.
In a sign of Ukrainian reactivity and resistance to hundreds of such attacks in recent months, cleanup crews rushed to the scene to remove debris and deploy plastic sheeting to cover broken windows and deal with freezing temperatures in the snow. -capital covered. An unfazed man pushed his son on a swing at a nearby playground while teams did his work.
The attack underscored the continued vulnerability of the capital, which has largely been spared damage in the later phases of the nearly 10-month Russian attack on Ukraine.
In recent weeks, Ukraine has faced a barrage of Russian airstrikes across the country, largely targeting infrastructure, as well as continued fighting on the front lines in the eastern and southern regions.
During the latest round of Russian military barrages on December 5, more than 60 out of 70 attacks were intercepted by air defense systems, including nine out of 10 aimed at the capital and its region, Ukrainian officials said.
US officials said Tuesday the United States was ready to approve sending a battery of Patriot missiles to Ukraine, acceding to an urgent request from Ukrainian leaders desperate for more robust weapons to shoot down incoming Russian missiles.
Zelenskyy pressed Western leaders on Monday to provide more advanced weapons to help his country in its war with Russia. The Patriot would be the most advanced surface-to-air missile system the West has provided to Ukraine to help repel Russian airstrikes in the war between the countries that erupted with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on February 24.
US officials also said last week that Moscow has been looking to Iran to resupply the Russian military with drones and surface-to-surface missiles.
Hanna Arhirova and Jamey Keaten, Associated Press
