Officials from Ukraine reported at least two blasts from drones near the centre of the capital city of Kyiv, early on Monday. The series of explosions were carried out in an attack by ‘kamikaze drones’ manufactured in Iran, as confirmed by Mayor Vitali Klitschko through Telegram.
The explosions came after a week of deadly missile strikes by Russia across Ukraine, which left 19 people dead.
A Ukrainian air force official confirmed that all the drones had flown into the country from the south. Mykolaiv city’s Mayor Oleksandr Senkevich said that sunflower oil tanks were set on fire by similar drones in the port city. As per the BBC, Senkevich confirmed that three drones ignited the tanks at Mykolaiv late on Sunday evening, which was hours before the morning attack on Kyiv.
Several residential buildings were damaged in the attack, and rescuers had to pull 18 people out of the rubble, out of which, one person was found dead.
“The enemy can attack our cities, but it won’t be able to break us,” said Ukrainian President Volodymr Zelenskyy, as he described the attacks to be “terrorising the civilian population”. It is hard to determine what is being targeted as Andriy Yermak, head of the Ukrainian president’s staff calls it “desperation” shown by Russia.
Kyiv officials have confirmed that Moscow has used Iran-supplied drones in the strikes against Kyiv, Odessa, Vinnytsia, Zaporizhzhia and cities across the country in the past few weeks. They added that they have been pleading with the West to step up assistance as raging new challenges come their way.
At least three explosions were heard in the Ukrainian capital around 6:45 am local time as a result of Russian strikes, as claimed by CNN. One of the blasts was heard in the Shevchenkovskiy district, which is in the centre of Kyiv, and emergency services were sent to tackle the situation immediately.
Videos on social media appear to show that the city resounded to the “rattle of gunfire as anti aircraft batteries frantically tried to shoot them down”, as claimed by the BBC.
Despite warnings, the streets were far from deserted as between the first and second strikes, numerous people were seen going about their Monday morning chores.
Recent Russian attacks in Ukraine have been targeting the energy infrastructure of the country, and it is expected to try the same again.
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