Ukraine says Kyiv hit by ‘most massive’ drone attack since war began

AFP | Kyiv

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Ukraine said yesterday it had downed 71 Russian attack drones overnight, in what Kyiv authorities said was the biggest attack on the capital since the start of the invasion.

The Ukrainian army said the majority of the Iranian-made Shahed drones were downed over the capital, Kyiv, causing power cuts in the centre of the city as temperatures dipped below freezing.

The drone attack came as Ukraine marked Holodomor Remembrance Day, commemorating the 1930s starvation of millions in Ukraine under Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin.

Kyiv city authorities said the multiple attack “was the most massive since the beginning of the full-scale invasion” in February 2022.

Five people were wounded in the capital. The youngest was 11 and the oldest 65.

The air raid alert in the city lasted six hours, Kyiv Mayor Vitalis Klatsch said, adding that falling drone debris had sparked fires and damaged buildings across the city, “The enemy continues the terror,” he said.

Ukraine’s energy ministry said the attack “cut off power to an overhead line”, leaving “77 residential buildings and 120 facilities” without power.

Repairs were underway, it said. Ukraine’s army said that while the “main target” of the attack was Kyiv, air defence had also been called into action across southern Ukraine and a guided missile had been destroyed over the central Dnipropetrovsk region.

There were power cuts across the region, authorities said. Kyiv has warned of and prepared for a renewed Russian campaign targeting its energy grid as winter descends, fearing a repeat of events last year, when thousands were left without heat or light in freezing temperatures.