Russia has on Monday used Kamikaze Drones to hit Ukraine city Kyiv in a fresh attack, an act described as ‘hopeless’ by Ukrainian president Zelensky.
On Monday, Ukraine reported that Russia had attacked Kyiv with a swarm of Kamikaze drones in what the president’s office described as an act of desperation as it nears eight months since Russia’s invasion.
An AFP journalist in Kyiv saw drones dropping low over a central district of the capital as police officers aimed the drones with automatic weapons as smoke rises from explosions across the city.
The drone attack follows one week immediately after Russia launched a massive two-day salvo of missile strikes over cities across Ukraine that disrupted energy and water supplies nationwide.
“They seem to be hitting us every Monday now,” said taxi driver Sergiy Prikhodko, who was waiting for a fare near the central train station in Kyiv.
“It’s a new way of starting the week,” he told AFP.
Air raid sirens sounded in Kyiv shortly before the first explosion at around 6:35 am (0335 GMT), followed by sirens across most of the country.
“All night and all morning, the enemy terrorizes the civilian population. Kamikaze drones and missiles are attacking all of Ukraine. The enemy can attack our cities, but it won’t be able to break us,” President Zelensky noted.
Vitali Klitschko a Kyiv mayor said a residential building in the central Shevchenkivsky district of the capital had been hit, and 18 people had been rescued but two people were still trapped under the rubble.
More air defenses
The head of the national railways, Alexander Kamyshin, confirmed earlier attacks close to the capital’s central rail hub.
“We need more air defense systems and as soon as possible. More weapons to defend the sky and destroy the enemy,” Zelensky’s chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, said on social media.
“The Russians think it will help them but it shows their desperation,” he also wrote.
The Ukrainian military said Russian drones and missiles were targeting towns and cities across the country.
It estimated that Russian forces had fired two missiles and 26 air strikes, and carried out more than 80 rocket attacks.
Kyiv’s mayor said the drone attacks had started a fire and damaged several buildings.
“In the past 13 hours, the Ukrainian military shot down 37 Iranian Shahid 136 drones and three cruise missiles launched by Russian terrorists,” the defense ministry reported in a separate statement.
In Kyiv, Klitschko reported that earlier the attacks in the Shevchenkivsky district caused a fire and damaged several buildings. He warned residents to take shelter.
“Fire departments are working. Several residential buildings were damaged. Medics are on the spot,” he said on Telegram.
“We are clarifying the information about the casualties.”
Klitschko also posted a picture of what he said was the charred wreckage of one of the kamikaze drones lingering munitions that can hover while waiting for a target to attack.
Iranian drones
Zelensky reported last week that Russia is using Iranian drones in attacking energy and infrastructure in several cities, even though Tehran denies supplying Russia with weapons for the war.
A police officer fires at a drone following attacks in Kyiv on Monday morning
On October 10, Russian missiles rained down on Kyiv and other cities in an enormous wave of strikes in months.
19 people lost their lives in the attack, with 105 others wounded, an event that sparked an international roar.
On October 11, Moscow carried out further strikes on a smaller scale, striking energy installations in western Ukraine far from the front.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said the strikes were in retaliation for an explosion that damaged a key bridge linking Russia to the Moscow-annexed Crimean peninsula.
Putin last week expressed satisfaction and said there was no need for further massive strikes on Ukraine for now.
The Russian president also claimed Moscow was doing everything right in its invasion of Ukraine, despite a string of embarrassing defeats.
In southern Ukraine, Kyiv’s troops have been pushing closer and closer to Kherson, the main city in the region of the same name, just north of Crimea.
Kherson is one of four regions in Ukraine that Moscow recently claimed to have annexed, and the city of Kherson was the first major city to fall after the Kremlin launched its invasion in February.
Washington last week announced fresh military assistance for Kyiv in the wake of Russia’s brutal missile attacks on civilians across Ukraine.
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The new $725-million package included more ammunition for the Himars rocket systems that have been used by Ukraine to wreak havoc on Russian targets.
It brings the total US military assistance to Ukraine to $17.6 billion since the Russian invasion began on February 24.
