Russia’s military has launched a series of drone strikes against “critical infrastructure” in Ukraine’s capital.
Officials said that over 20 drones were sent to Kyiv and the surrounding area on Monday morning, with air defence systems destroying roughly 15 unmanned aerial vehicles.
Early morning air raid sirens sounded before 5:50 a.m. (07:50 GMT) when the sky was officially clear.
According to the city administration’s Telegram account, a critical infrastructure site in Kyiv was attacked, though no further information was provided.
“The enemy is attacking the capital,” the government declared.
It claimed that Russian forces had been bombarding Kyiv and other cities with barrage ammunition fired from Iranian-made drones called Shaheds.
The explosions were confirmed by Kyiv’s mayor, Vitali Klitschko, on Monday.
Critical infrastructure facilities were damaged due to the attack on the city, Klitschko claimed on the Telegram messaging app.
Engineers dealing with the power and heat grid are working diligently to restore normal service as soon as possible.
At least two individuals were hurt, and the governor of the Kyiv region, Oleksii Kuleba, said several public buildings and private homes were damaged. It appears that nobody got killed.
Though the capital appeared to be the primary target of the most recent Russian attacks, the Ukrainian military has reported that other parts of the nation have also been struck.
The air force reported on Telegram that it had shot down 30 of at least 35 Russian self-explosive drones fired across the nation from the eastern side of the Azov Sea.
The assault comes after Russian bombings on multiple Ukrainian cities on Friday, including the capital Kyiv, which caused significant power outages and left large parts of the country in the dark during the cold winter.
As the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which began on February 24, has suffered repeated defeats on the ground, it has become increasingly reliant on massive air bombardment.
As the assaults imperil civilians and cripple essential services in a country where an estimated 18 million people are already in need of humanitarian help, the Ukrainian government, the UN human rights office, and the head of the European Commission have all called them war crimes.
On the other hand, Moscow insists that these kinds of attacks are perfectly fine from a military standpoint.
To punish those who are “complicit” in Iran’s drone sector, the EU and the US have increased their sanctions against the country.
Despite insisting it backs neither side in the fight, Tehran confirmed in November that it had sold Russia a “limited number of drones” before the invasion.
But observers have questioned whether Russia has the resources for such an operation. In contrast, Ukrainian officials have warned that Moscow may plot a second onslaught in the new year, including a major ground assault on Kyiv.