Russia targets Kyiv with drones, killing 3 and wounding 29
Russian drones caused fires in two residential buildings in the capital's Desnianskyi district.
File Image of an Attack by Russia in Kyiv, Ukraine (Photo: AP)
KYIV: Russia targeted Ukraine's capital with drones, killing three people in their homes, authorities said early Sunday.
At least 29 people were wounded, seven of them children, in the second consecutive nighttime attack on Kyiv to claim civilian lives. Ukraine's Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said a 19-year-old woman and her 46-year-old mother were among the killed.
Russian drones caused fires in two residential buildings in the capital's Desnianskyi district. Emergency crews evacuated civilians from a nine-story and a 16-story building, put out flames and cleared the rubble.
Olha Yevhenivha, 74, said there was so much smoke from the fire that she couldn't leave her apartment.
“Even until now our windows are totally black from the smoke, and it was impossible to go down, so that's why we put wet blankets on our doors and balcony,” she said.
Russia attacked Ukraine with 101 drones overnight into Sunday, according to Ukraine's air force, of which 90 were shot down and neutralised. Five drones hit four locations, and drone debris fell on five other places, the statement said.
The attack came a day after a Russian missile and drones killed four people, including two in Kyiv, prompting fresh pleas from Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for Western air defence systems.
Russia's Defence Ministry claimed on Sunday that over the previous day, its forces struck energy facilities and rail infrastructure serving Ukraine's war effort, as well as other military targets such as troop deployment points and a drone factory.
It did not comment specifically on strikes on Kyiv, nor on the civilian casualties reported by Ukraine.
Elsewhere, Russian President Vladimir Putin said the country had tested a new nuclear-capable and powered cruise missile fit to confound existing defences, according to remarks released on Sunday.
In Russia's Bryansk region near Ukraine, a civilian woman was hospitalised with injuries after a Ukrainian drone struck her car, according to regional Gov. Alexander Bogomaz.