Central Kiev hit by kamikaze drones – mayor
Several explosions rocked central Kiev on Monday morning, Mayor Vitaly Klitschko has confirmed, amid reports of a new wave of Russian drone strikes, across the country.
The news comes a week after Moscow launched a significant attack on Ukraine’s critical energy and military infrastructure.
“An explosion in the Shevchenko district – in the center of the capital,” Klitschko wrote on his Telegram channel at around 7am Monday morning, before reporting another blast in the same area several minutes later. A fire broke out in a non-residential building, and several residential buildings were damaged, he later added.
Witnesses reportedly heard the sound of kamikaze drones in the air, according to Anton Gerashchenko, an adviser to the interior minister, who said that they targeted critical infrastructure in the area of the central railway station in Kiev.
Several videos circulating on social media claim to show the drones in the skies of Kiev, as well as one of the impact sites.
The mayor later posted a photo of what he said were parts of a drone that was destroyed. One fragment featured the word ‘Geran-2’, the name of a kamikaze drone used by Russian forces.
According to some reports, the Geran-2 is a localized version of the Iranian-made Shahed-136 drone. Neither Moscow nor Tehran has confirmed the shipment of UAVs to Russia. Iran has said in the past that it is neutral with regards to the conflict.
Russian strikes were also reported in other parts of the country. Valentin Reznichenko, the governor of the eastern Dnepropetrovsk Region, said that several houses were damaged when a missile hit an unspecified energy infrastructure site, causing a fire. He added that three missiles were intercepted and destroyed mid-air.
According to the Ukrainian Armed Forces Southern Command, three drones struck industrial sites and a pharmaceutical warehouse in the city of Nikolaev.
Dmitry Zhivitsky, the governor of the northern Sumy Region, said several people were injured after strikes on “critical infrastructure.”
The reported strikes come one week after Russia launched a barrage of missiles and drones that targeted Ukrainian military facilities and infrastructure across the country over two days. The attack came after Moscow accused Kiev of orchestrating a deadly explosion on the strategic Crimean Bridge.
