At least five people were injured after Russia carried out its biggest drone strike of the war on the Ukrainian capital, military officials said.
President Volodymyr Zelensky said most of the Iranian Shahed Kamikaze drones that struck Kiev early Saturday morning were shot down.
At around 4am local time (2am GMT), loud explosions were heard throughout the city and air raid sirens sounded for six hours.
The drones damaged several houses and a school and injured five people, including an 11-year-old girl.
According to the Ministry of Energy of Ukraine, almost 200 buildings were left without electricity.
According to the armed forces, Russia launched about 74 Iranian-made Shahed drones, 66 of which were destroyed by air defenses.
“Kyiv was the main target,” Ukrainian Air Force commander Nikolai Oleshchuk said on Telegram.
According to the head of the Kyiv city administration, Sergei Popko, the attack was “the most massive drone airstrike in Kyiv.”
The debris of a crashed drone caused a fire in a kindergarten, said the mayor of Kyiv Vitaliy Klitschko.
The attack occurred on the morning of Holodomor Remembrance Day, which commemorates the man-made famine in Soviet Ukraine that killed millions of Ukrainians between 1932 and 1933 and is observed on the fourth Saturday in November.
“Conscious terror… The Russian leadership is proud of its ability to kill,” Zelensky wrote on Telegram.
The Russian leadership seems to take pride in its ability to kill people.
“Our fighters shot down most of the drones, but not all. We continue to work to strengthen our air defenses and unite the world in the fight against Russian terror. The terrorist state must be defeated and held accountable for its actions.”
Ukraine fears Russia will launch another airstrike to destroy its energy system, as it attempted last winter.
“Looks like we heard the overture tonight. The beginning of the winter season,” Ukrainian economist Sergei Fursa wrote on Facebook.
Additional reporting from Reuters and AP
Source: I News
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