Mass drone attack hits several Kyiv districts

AFP / Sergei Supinsky

More than two dozen Russian drones targeted Ukraine's capital early on Friday, officials said, injuring two people and damaging residential buildings in Moscow's latest overnight drone strike against Ukraine.

It was the sixth such attack on Kyiv this month and part of a larger drone swarm aimed at parts of central, southern and western Ukraine, the country's air force said.

Ukrainian air defences shot down 24 out of 28 attack drones, it said.

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said on Telegram that a drone had hit a block of flats in the Solomyanskyi district, south of the city centre, triggering a fire on the upper floors that was quickly brought under control.

Emergency services also said several apartments were damaged on the 24th, 25th and 26th storeys of the building. Two people were injured, including one being treated in hospital.

The incident occurred a few hundred metres from a maternity hospital.

A video posted on social media showed a giant orange flame going skyward in the night.

Klitschko also said drone fragments had set fire to a house under construction in the Darnytskyi district on the eastern bank of the Dnipro River that runs through the city.

Pictures posted online showed construction materials strewn about the site.

Serhiy Popko, head of Kyiv's military administration, said fragments from a downed drone had struck an apartment building in a third area, also south of the city centre.

He posted pictures showing smashed windows and heavy damage to apartments.

Ukraine's southern command said an unspecified infrastructure facility in the Mykolaiv region had been struck and that fragments from a downed drone had damaged a grain storage facility in the Odesa region.

Authorities said no injuries were reported, and the resulting fires were extinguished.

More from International News

  • Netanyahu says Israel to decide which international forces in Gaza acceptable

    Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday Israel would determine which foreign forces it would allow as part of a planned international force in Gaza to help secure an end to its war under US President Donald Trump's plan.

  • Two suspects in Louvre jewel heist case arrested in Paris

    Two suspects in the brazen daylight heist of some of France's crown jewels from the Louvre were arrested in Paris on Saturday evening and are being questioned, Le Parisien newspaper reported on Sunday, citing sources close to the investigation.

  • Russian attack on Kyiv kills three, injures 31

    Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called for new strong sanctions against Russia and its allies after Russian drones killed three and injured 31, including six children, in an overnight air attack on Kyiv.

  • PKK announces withdrawal from Turkey

    The outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) said on Sunday it was withdrawing from Turkey as part of a disarmament process it is coordinating with the government, and pressed Ankara for concrete measures to move the process along.

Blogs