Mass drone attack hits several Kyiv districts

Kyiv – Russian drones targeted the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, early on Dec 22, injuring two people and damaging property in the city in Moscow’s latest overnight drone strike against Ukraine.

It was the sixth such attack on the capital in December and part of a larger drone swarm that targeted parts of central, southern and western Ukraine, the country’s air force said.

Ukrainian air defences shot down 24 out of 28 attack drones, it said.

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko, writing on the Telegram messaging app, said a drone had hit a block of flats in the Solomyanskyi district, south of the city centre, triggering a fire on the upper floors that was quickly brought under control.

Emergency services also said several apartments were damaged on the 24th, 25th and 26th storeys of the building. Two people were injured, including one being treated in hospital.

The incident occurred a few hundred metres from a maternity hospital.

A video posted on social media showed a giant orange flame going skyward in the night.

Mr Klitschko also said drone fragments had set fire to a house under construction in Darnytskyi district on the eastern bank of the Dnipro River that runs through the city.

He said there were no injuries. Pictures posted online showed construction materials strewn about the site.

Mr Serhiy Popko, head of Kyiv’s military administration, reported fragments from a downed drone had struck an apartment building in a third area – Holosiivskyi district – also south of the city centre.

Mr Popko posted pictures showing smashed windows and heavy damage to apartments.

Ukraine’s southern command said an unspecified infrastructure facility in the Mykolaiv region had been struck, and that fragments from a downed drone had damaged a grain storage facility in the Odesa region.

No injuries were reported, and the resulting fires were extinguished, authorities said. REUTERS