Russia has launched a barrage of drones and cruise and ballistic missiles at Kyiv, as well as other cities across the country.
A series of explosions rocked the Ukrainian capital in the early hours of Monday, sending residents into bomb shelters, said Ukraine’s air force. Air strikes also targeted Kharkiv and other cities.
According to Kyiv’s Mayor Vitali Klitschko, emergency services were called to the Holosiivskyi and Solomianskyi districts of Kyiv. One person was reportedly injured by falling debris in Shevchenkivskyi district.
The head of Kyiv’s city military administration, Serhiy Popk, said more than 10 cruise missiles, about 10 ballistic missiles and a drone fired at the Ukrainian capital and its suburbs were destroyed by Ukraine’s air defences.
Ukrainian forces said that overall they destroyed 22 out of 35 missiles and 20 out of 23 attack drones over the Kyiv, Kharkiv, Dnipro, Poltava, Mykolaiv and Zaporizhzhia regions.
Oleh Syniehubov, head of the Kharkiv region, confirmed an early morning strike on the Industrialnyi district.
The barrage comes a day after Russia’s military reported intercepting and destroying 158 Ukrainian drones targeting multiple Russian regions in one of the biggest Ukrainian attacks of the war that has raged for more than two years.
On Monday, Russian President Vladimir Putin vowed that his country’s military would “deal with Ukrainian bandits in the Kursk region” before any negotiations with the neighboring nation could take place. Putin ordered the full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022, and Ukraine launched its counter-incursion of Kursk just a couple months ago in a new tactic to tie up Russian forces away from the long front line in the ongoing war.
Both sides are battering each other with regular long-range drone and missile strikes, sometimes launching more than 100 weapons in aerial attacks that suggest they’re still pouring resources into weapons production.
Russian air defenses intercepted 158 Ukrainian drones during the night from Saturday to Sunday, including two over Moscow and nine over the surrounding region, the Defense Ministry said.
The U.K. Defense Ministry said Sunday that Russian forces had accelerated their advance on the key Donetsk stronghold of Povkrosk over the past week and were likely within 6 miles of the city. Elsewhere along the 600-mile front line there have been no significant changes, it said.
Russia launched 35 missiles of various types and 26 Shahed drones at Ukraine on the night from Sunday to Monday, the Ukrainian air force said. Nine ballistic missiles, 13 cruise missiles and 20 drones were downed, it said.
Residents of the capital hurried into the city’s bomb shelters.
