Russia launches its “biggest drone attack” against the Ukrainian capital and leaves one dead

The ukrainian capital suffered the largest drone attack since the start of the russian war, local authorities said, as kyiv prepared to celebrate the anniversary of its founding on Sunday. At least one person died.

Russia launched its “most massive attack” overnight on Saturday with Iranian-made Shahed drones, said Serhii Popko, a senior military official in kyiv. The attack lasted more than five hours and the anti-aircraft defenses shot down more than 40 unmanned aircraftaccording to reports.

A 41-year-old man died and a 35-year-old woman was hospitalized. after debris from the attack fell on a seven-story non-residential building and started a fire, the city’s mayor Vitali Klitschko said.

The Ukrainian air force said the record for Shahed drone strikes across the country had also been broken on Saturday night. Of the 54 drones launched, 52 were shot down by anti-aircraft defenses.

In the northeastern province of Kharkiv, a 61-year-old woman and a 60-year-old man were killed in two separate projectile attacksaccording to Governor Oleh Syniehubov.

kyiv Day commemorates the anniversary of the official foundation of the city. It is usually celebrated with live concerts, street fairs, exhibitions and fireworks. More low-key celebrations for the city’s 1,541st anniversary had been scheduled this year.

Ukrainian authorities said the timing of the attack was probably not accidental.

“Ukrainian history has long been a nuisance to insecure Russians”Ukrainian top presidential adviser Andriy Yermak said on Telegram.

“Today the enemy decided to ‘congratulate’ the people of kyiv on kyiv Day with the help of their (unmanned aerial vehicles)”Popko said in the messaging app.

Local authorities in Russia’s southern Krasnodar region, meanwhile, said that sur anti-aircraft defenses had destroyed several drones headed for the Ilsky oil refinery.

Also the Russian region of Belgorod, on the border with Ukraine, was attacked by Ukrainian forces on Saturday, according to local authorities. A 15-year-old girl and a 17-year-old boy were injured by projectiles, according to the regional governor, Vyacheslav Gladkov.

Drone strikes against Russian border regions have been commonplace since the start of the invasion in February 2022, and have increased in the past month. Last month, a crude oil refinery in Krasnodar was attacked by drones on two consecutive days.

Ukraine’s air defenses, bolstered by sophisticated Western-supplied systems, have successfully thwarted Russian airstrikes with both drones and aircraft-launched missiles.

Ukraine this month repelled a heavy Russian airstrike on kyiv and shot down all missiles aimed at its capital. The barrage, which also struck locations elsewhere in Ukraine, included six Russian Kinzhal hypersonic missiles, which Russian President Vladimir Putin had frequently described as a competitive advantage and one of the most advanced weapons in his country’s arsenal.

Sophisticated Western anti-aircraft systems, such as US-made Patriot missiles, have helped Kiev avoid the kind of destruction suffered on the main front lines in the east and south of the country.

Although most of the ground fighting is stalemate on that front, both sides attack the territory on the other side with long-range weapons.

Meanwhile, the Russian ambassador to Britain, Andrei Kelin, warned of the risk of an escalation in Ukraine. Speaking to the BBC on Sunday, he said his country has “enormous resources” and still hasn’t “acted very seriously”and warned that deliveries of western weapons to Ukraine pose a risk of taking the war to a “new dimension”.

The duration of the conflict, he added, “It depends on the efforts to escalate the war that the countries of the NATOespecially the UK.

Kelin’s comments fit with the usual message from Russian officials about Russian military greatness, though they contradicted frequent reports about the poor equipment and training of the Russian troops on the battlefield.

Also on Sunday, the death toll from a missile attack on Friday in the central Ukrainian city of Dnipro, the regional capital of Dnipropetrovsk province, rose to four.

The regional governor, Serhii Lysak, said that three missing persons had been confirmed dead. The attack against a building where there were psychological and veterinary clinics it left 32 injured, including two children.

Source: AP