Ukraine claimed on Sunday that it managed to repel the “most important” drone attack overnight launched in kyiv since the beginning of the Russian invasion, which left at least two dead and three wounded in the capital.
“In total there was a record number of explosive drones launched: 54!”the Ukrainian air force said on Telegram, claiming to have “destroyed 52”. Of the total, about 40 were dropped on kyiv.
“This is the most important drone attack against the capital since the beginning of the invasion” 15 months ago, lamented the regional military administration on Telegram.
The military authorities specified that the attack “developed in several waves, and the air alert lasted more than 5 hours”.
“According to preliminary data, more than 40 Russian drones were shot down by anti-aircraft defense” over kyivhe added.
Ukrainian President Volodimir Zelensky thanked them for their work. “Every time they shoot down enemy drones and missiles, lives are saved (…). They are our heroes,” he wrote on Telegram.
The attacks, however, left at least two dead. and three injured in the capital, according to authorities.
“People are in shock. The damage is significant, the windows are broken, the roof damaged,” Sergei Movchan, a 50-year-old neighbor, told AFP.
kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko He described the attack as “massive” and specified that the drones were launched “from several directions at once.”
It is the 14th Russian drone strike in kyiv since early May, according to authorities. The capital had been relatively free of this type of offensive since the beginning of the year.
– kyiv as a “symbol” –
In the Solomianski neighborhood, a 41-year-old man died and a 35-year-old woman was hospitalized, it reported.
Another person died in the Golosivski neighborhood after the remains of Russian drones fell “on a seven-story building”, according to the regional administration. One person was injured.
There was also a fire in a warehouse area, spreading flames in 1,000 m2, which left a man injured, according to the same source.
“kyiv, a city of free and brave people, it has become a symbol of Ukraine’s unwavering spirit and the Kremlin’s failed imperial ambitions,” Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov praised.
Mikhailo Podoliak, an adviser to the Ukrainian presidency, blamed Iran, where the Shahed drones used by Moscow are manufactured.
“The Iran of today is a terrorist regime that constitutes a threat to Europe and the Middle East,” he wrote on Twitter, vowing retaliation.
In total, 54 explosive drones were launched “from the Bryansk and Krasnodar regions” in Russia, said the Ukrainian Air Force, which celebrated having intercepted 52 of them.
According to that source, Russia was targeting “military installations and strategic infrastructures in the central regions of the country, in particular in the kyiv region”.
Russian Foreign MinisterSergei Lavrov, assured on Sunday that the Western powers were playing “with fire” following the recent green light from the United States for future deliveries to Ukraine of F-16 fighters.
“It is an unacceptable escalation” carried out by “WashingtonLondon and its satellites within the EU (European Union)” who want to “weaken Russia”, he stressed.
– Drone warfare –
The use of these small remotely piloted devices in the conflict zone it is increasingly common on the Ukrainian front.
But in recent weeks, the Russian territory also It has been the target of attacks of this type, in addition to sabotage, at a time when Kiev claims to be finalizing its preparations to launch a counter-offensive and recover all the territories occupied by Moscow, including the Crimean peninsula annexed by Russia in 2014.
The most spectacular attack occurred on May 3, when two drones were shot down over the Kremlin., in Moscow, the official residence and occasional workplace of President Vladimir Putin. Russia accused Ukraine, which denied involvement.
In general they are the bordering regions with Ukraine those that are being attacked, where the Russian army partly supplies its troops.
But drones can also strike hundreds of kilometers from the border.. On Saturday, two drones damaged a building from which an oil pipeline is managed in the Pskov region of western Russia, according to Governor Mikhail Vedernikov.
Baza, a Russian media outlet with sources in the secret services, it also reported a drone attack on another oil station in the Tver region, northwest of Moscow.
