Moscow has launched a “kamikaze” drone attack, hitting key infrastructure in and around Kyiv as Russian President Vladimir Putin heads for Belarus, fuelling fears he will pressure his ex-Soviet ally to join a new offensive on Ukraine.
The Ukrainian Air Force said its air defences shot down 30 drones, the third Russian air attack on the Ukrainian capital in six days and the latest in a series of assaults since October that have targeted the Ukrainian power grid, causing sweeping blackouts amid sub-freezing temperatures.
Kyiv’s mayor said no one had died or been wounded in the attacks on Kyiv that rocked the capital’s Solomianskyi and Shevchenkivskyi districts, according to preliminary information.
“Kamikaze” drones are cheaply produced, disposable unmanned aircraft that fly towards their target before plummeting at velocity and detonating on impact.
Under the darkness of night, a fire raged at one site at an energy facility in the often targeted central Shevchenkivskyi district, a Reuters witness said.
The Solomianskyi district in the western part of Kyiv is a busy transport hub, home to a train station and one of the city’s two passenger airports.
Kyiv officials said 18 out of 23 drones were shot down over the city of 3.6 million.
“As a result of the attack on the capital, critical infrastructure facilities were damaged,” Vitali Klitschko said on the Telegram messaging app.
“Energy and heating engineers are working to quickly stabilise the situation with energy and heat supply.”
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Oleskiy Kuleba, governor of the region surrounding Kyiv, said infrastructure and private houses were damaged and two people were wounded.
He said the attack caused “fairly serious” damage and three areas in the region had been left without power.
Mr Zelensky on Sunday again called for Western nations to beef up Ukraine’s air defences after weeks of Russian air strikes targeting the energy network.
Ukraine’s national power grid operator, Ukrenergo, said on Telegram drones targeted power plants across the country.
“Currently, the most difficult situation is in the central, eastern and Dnipro regions,” it said.
There has been constant Russian and Belarusian military activity for months in Belarus, a close Kremlin ally that Moscow’s troops used as a launch pad for their abortive attack on Kyiv in February.
Mr Putin’s visit, for talks with Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko, will be his first to Minsk since 2019 – before the pandemic and a wave of Belarusian protests in 2020 that Mr Lukashenko crushed with strong support from the Kremlin.
Mr Lukashenko has said repeatedly he has no intention of sending his country’s troops into Ukraine.
Russian troops that moved to Belarus in October will conduct battalion tactical exercises, the Russian Interfax news agency reported, citing the Russian defence ministry.
The 10-month-old conflict in Ukraine is the biggest in Europe since World War II, killing tens of thousands of people, driving millions from their homes and reducing cities to ruins.
Moscow said on Monday Russian and Chinese forces would hold joint naval drills between Wednesday and December 27, involving missile and artillery firing in the East China Sea.
The drills have been held annually since 2012, but Moscow has sought to strengthen its political, security and economic links with Beijing in recent months.
-Reuters