Mass Drone Attack Hits Several Kyiv Districts

Mass Drone Attack Hits Several Kyiv Districts
Firefighters work at a site of a warehouse heavily damaged during a Russian drone strike, in Kyiv region, Ukraine, released on Dec. 21, 2023. Press service of the State Emergency Service of Ukraine in Kyiv region/Handout via Reuters
Reuters
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More than two dozen Russian drones targeted Ukraine’s capital early on Friday, officials said, injuring two people and damaging residential buildings in Moscow’s latest overnight drone strike against Ukraine.

It was the sixth such attack on Kyiv this month and part of a larger drone swarm aimed at parts of central, southern, and western Ukraine, the country’s air force said.

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said on Telegram that 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.

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.

Pictures posted online showed construction materials strewn about the site.

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

He 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.