As Ukrainian forces report substantial gains against Russia in the wake of the withdrawal of Wagner mercenary fighters from the war, Russia launched a new, massive wave of drone attacks on Kyiv over the weekend.
The first attack of its kind for 12 days, Russia rained down missiles on the Ukrainian capital city but failed to land a single blow. According to Serhiy Popko, who leads the military administration in the city, Ukrainian air defenses successfully destroyed all drones directed at the city. Damage was inflicted on at least three residential buildings in the area, however, causing one injury.
The failed strikes did not result in a single injury.
When It Happened
Air raid alarms sounded at roughly 2:30 am on Sunday when eight Iranian Shahed-136 attack drones began to approach the city. As with other strikes on Kyiv, Russia also launched three cruise missiles at the city that same night, though air defenses also intercepted the weapons.
The strikes during the evening came after several attempts during the day, bringing the total number of missiles launched at Kyiv in the period to 11.
Drone Strike Kills at Least One in Sumy
Attempted Russian drone strikes continued into Monday, according to local authorities from Sumy, a city in northeastern Ukraine. At least one person was killed in a Russian drone strike and 16 others were injured. Reports described how two residential buildings were damaged along with an office building as four Russian drones targeted the city.
The news was confirmed by Sumy regional administration officials on Telegram, and images shared online showed rescue workers saving lives and rummaging through debris.
Images were also shared by The Kyiv Independent on Twitter, showing a fire ravaging an apartment on an upper floor of a residential building.
Additional photographs showed what looks to be the same apartment building in a state of disrepair, with large pieces of debris scattered across its courtyard and a large chunk taken out of the roof and the front of the building. While local authorities did not immediately confirm the kind of drones used in the attack, the damage appears to suggest that at least one of the drones – possibly another Iranian-made Shahed drone – successfully struck the building and was not shot down by Ukrainian air defenses.
Reports say that air defenses were active at 11 am local time on Monday.
Jack Buckby is 19FortyFive’s Breaking News Editor. He is a British author, counter-extremism researcher, and journalist based in New York. Reporting on the U.K., Europe, and the U.S., he works to analyze and understand left-wing and right-wing radicalization, and reports on Western governments’ approaches to the pressing issues of today. His books and research papers explore these themes and propose pragmatic solutions to our increasingly polarized society.
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