Explosions rock Kyiv, struck by waves of drones
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Waves of explosive-laden suicide drones struck Ukraine’s capital as households have been getting ready to begin their week early Monday, the blasts echoing throughout Kyiv, setting buildings ablaze and sending folks scurrying to shelters.
The capital’s central Shevchenko district was among the many areas hit, with house blocks broken and a non-residential constructing on fireplace, Kyiv metropolis mayor Vitali Klitschko mentioned.
An Related Press photographer who was out capturing morning scenes of Kyiv caught one of many drones on digicam, its triangle-shaped wing and pointed warhead clearly seen in opposition to the blue sky. Drones got here in a number of waves and buzzed overhead with offended hums from their engines.
There was no rapid phrase of casualties. The drones’ meant targets weren’t instantly clear however Russian strikes over the previous week have hit infrastructure, together with energy services.
Social media video posts confirmed drones buzzing over the capital and smoke billowing within the early morning gentle. The sound of sustained gunfire is also heard in a single publish, seemingly making an attempt to shoot a drone down.
Explosions have been heard from the identical central Kyiv district the place a missile strike every week in the past tore a gap in a kids’s playground.
Russian forces struck Kyiv with Iranian Shahed drones, wrote Andrii Yermak, the pinnacle of the Ukrainian president’s workplace, in a publish on the Telegram social media web site. Russia has repeatedly been utilizing the so-called suicide drones in current weeks to focus on city facilities and infrastructure, together with energy stations.
Strikes in central Kyiv had grow to be a rarity within the final a number of months after Russian forces did not seize the capital at first of the battle. Final week’s early morning strikes have been the primary explosions heard in Kyiv’s metropolis middle in a number of months, and put Kyiv in addition to the remainder of the nation again on edge because the battle nears 9 months. Monday’s blasts appeared to proceed what many worry might grow to be extra widespread occurrences in city facilities.
Russian President Vladimir Putin mentioned final week’s strikes have been in retaliation for the bombing of a bridge connecting the Crimean peninsula with the Russian mainland. Putin blames Ukraine for masterminding the blast, which suspended site visitors over the bridge and curtailed Moscow’s means to make use of the bridge to provide Russian troops within the occupied areas of southern Ukraine.
The strike on Kyiv comes as preventing has intensified within the japanese areas of Donetsk and Luhansk in current days, in addition to the continued Ukrainian counteroffensive within the south close to Kherson and Zaporizhzhia. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy mentioned in his Sunday night tackle that there was heavy preventing across the cities of Bakhmut and Soledar within the Donetsk area. The Donetsk and Luhansk areas make up the majority of the commercial east often called the Donbas, and have been two of 4 areas annexed by Russia in September in defiance of worldwide regulation.
On Sunday, the Russian-backed regime within the Donetsk area mentioned Ukraine had shelled its central administrative constructing in a direct hit. No casualties have been reported.
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Observe AP’s protection of the battle in Ukraine: https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
