Ukraine: Explosions rock Kyiv a week after Russian strikes
A swarm of kamikaze drones has attacked Kyiv this morning, blowing up residential buildings and energy infrastructure as air raid sirens sounded across the Ukrainian capital in the early hours.
Five explosions were reported in the city starting around 6.30am local time, the BBC reported, as the drones managed to dodge air defence systems with police resorting to using rifles to try and shoot them down.
Vitaliy Klitschko, mayor of the city, said the central Shevchenkivskiy district was targeted by blasts which hit several residential buildings and left at least two people buried in rubble. Oksana Kovalenko, a local journalist, said critical energy infrastructure was also hit.
President Volodymyr Zelensky said the drones strikes were aimed at ‘terrorising the civilian population’ but vowed: ‘The enemy can attack our cities but it won’t be able to break us.’
It comes a week after a huge barrage of Russian missiles and Iranian-made kamikaze drones targeted virtually every major Ukrainian city, destroying infrastructure and killing civilians after a blast on the Crimean Bridge.
Russia has continued striking cities an infrastructure since then – albeit at a lower intensity – having apparently changed tactics in the war after a humiliating series of defeats on the battlefield.
The strikes also came as NATO this week begins nuclear weapons drills that will take place in northern Europe.
A ball of smoke and flames rises over the streets of Kyiv as the city is bombarded by a swarm of Iranian-made kamikaze drones early Monday, hitting residential areas and energy infrastructure
Astonishing images capture the moment a suicide drones dives towards the streets of Kyiv (left) and the moment people run for shelter after it explodes (right)
Smoke billows from the ruins of a building in Kyiv destroyed by a suicide drone after the city was attacked early Monday, as Russian forces continue to target the Ukrainian capital
Firefighters extinguish a blaze started by an Iranian-made suicide drone which slammed into Kyiv early Monday, as Russia forces change tactics to bring death back to the streets of the capital after weeks of calm
A police officer fires his rifle into the air as he tries to take down a suicide drone attacking Kyiv early Monday as Russia keeps up its attack on vital infrastructure
A security officer uses his rifle to try and take down a suicide drone attacking the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv early on Monday
Medics help an injured woman after after suicide drones struck buildings in Kyiv after being launched by Russian troops
A woman carries her young child out of a bomb shelter early Monday morning in Kyiv after the city was attacked by suicide drones launched by Russia
Ukrainian soldiers and firefighters pick their way through the ruins of residential buildings and energy infrastructure targeted by Russian airstrikes on Monday in Kyiv
Damage is seen on the streets of Kyiv early Monday after the central Shevchenkivskiy district was hit by Iranian-made suicide drones launched by Russian forces
A Ukrainian soldier looks to the sky after a swarm of Iranian suicide drones bombarded the Ukrainian capital on Monday
NATO is set to start military drills practising the use of Europe’s nuclear bombs on Monday after Putin warned direct clashes with Russia would spark ‘global catastrophe’.
Its annual nuclear exercise ‘Steadfast Noon’ will see up to 60 aircrafts take part in training flights over Belgium, the North Sea and Britain.
The nuclear drills – which do not involve live bombs – come after Vladimir Putin said today that a direct clash between NATO and Russian troops would lead to ‘global catastrophe’.
There was no immediate word of casualties from the Kyiv strikes. The drones’ intended targets weren’t immediately clear but Russian strikes over the past week have hit infrastructure, including power facilities.
Social media video posts showed drones buzzing over the capital and smoke billowing in the early morning light. The sound of sustained gunfire could also be heard in one post, seemingly trying to shoot a drone down.
Explosions were heard from the same central Kyiv district where a missile strike a week ago tore a hole in a children’s playground.
Russian forces struck Kyiv with Iranian Shahed drones, wrote Andrii Yermak, the head of the Ukrainian president’s office, in a post on the Telegram social media site.
Moscow has repeatedly been using the so-called suicide drones in recent weeks to target urban centres and infrastructure, including power stations.
Strikes in central Kyiv had become a rarity in the last several months after Russian forces failed to capture the capital at the beginning of the war.
Last week’s early morning strikes were the first explosions heard in Kyiv’s city centre in several months, and put Kyiv as well as the rest of the country back on edge as the war nears nine months.
Monday’s blasts seemed to continue what many fear could become more common occurrences in urban centres.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said last week’s strikes were in retaliation for the bombing of a bridge connecting the Crimean peninsula with the Russian mainland.
Mr Putin blames Ukraine for masterminding the blast, which suspended traffic over the bridge and curtailed Moscow’s ability to use the bridge to supply Russian troops in the occupied regions of southern Ukraine.
The strike on Kyiv comes as fighting has intensified in the eastern regions of Donetsk and Luhansk in recent days, as well as the continued Ukrainian counter-offensive in the south near Kherson and Zaporizhzhia.
President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Sunday night in his evening address that there was heavy fighting around the cities of Bakhmut and Soledar in the Donetsk region.
The Donetsk and Luhansk regions make up the bulk of the industrial east known as the Donbas, and were two of four regions annexed by Russia in September in defiance of international law.
On Sunday, the Russian-backed regime in the Donetsk region said Ukraine had shelled its central administrative building in a direct hit. No casualties were reported.
The explosions came from the same central Kyiv district where a week ago a missile struck a children’s playground and intersection near the Kyiv National University´s main buildings
Smoke rises and flames fill the windows of a building in downtown Kyiv (right) after a Russian attack using Iranian-made suicide drones
Kyiv city mayor Vitaliy Klichko said the central Shevchenko district of the capital had been hit, and urged residents to take shelter. No further details were immediately known
Police officers check an explosion site after a drone attack in Kyiv, with multiple blasts reported across the city
Police officers check the explosion site after a drone attack in Kyiv, as Russia changes tactics to focus on long-range strikes after a series of defeats on the battlefield
Firefighters clear the streets of Kyiv after the area was struck by kamikaze drones fired by Russian forces early on Monday
A man is surrounded by dust on the streets of Kyiv after suicide drones struck nearby, as Russia changes tactics in Ukraine to focus on bombarding its major cities
Social media posts showed a blaze in the area of the strike as well as a building engulfed in flames
Smoke rises from a building after a drone attack in Kyiv amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine
Local residents watch as smoke rises after a Russian drone strike on the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv
Iranian-made drone being used against Ukraine: Russia unleashes Shahed-136 ‘kamikaze’ weapons which overwhelm ground targets and can evade air defences
Ukraine has accused Moscow of using Iranian-made drones as part of multiple deadly strikes that Russian forces launched across Ukraine.
President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russian forces used both missiles and Iranian-built drones – believed to have been sent from Belarus – to strike his country.
With a range of more than 600 miles, the explosive-laden drones can ‘loiter’ above potential targets for hours before being slammed directly into enemy soldiers, vehicles or buildings from above – causing an explosion.
Reports coming out of Ukraine suggest the drones have inflicted serious damage to Kyiv’s forces, as well as Ukrainian infrastructure.
Ukrainians who have witnessed attacks by the drones say they make a recognisable noise, and have described them as sounding like ‘motorbikes’ in the air, while some soldiers have taken to calling it ‘the flying lawnmower’.
While the drones can be devastating to their targets, soldiers have said they a vulnerable to small arms fire. On Saturday, the General Staff of the Armed forces of Ukraine released a video on Facebook showing a smoking wreckage that it claimed to be one of the drones. The post said it had been shot down by a machine gun.
‘This is a primitive handmade product,’ Yuriy Ignat, a spokesman for the Ukrainian Air Force, told Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFERL) last week.
‘It’s not a high-tech conveyor-belt production like the [Turkish-made] Bayraktar or American and Israeli [unmanned aerial vehicles],’ he added.
Iranian-made Shahed-136 UAVs
Ukrainian residents described the drone attacks to RFE. ‘You can hear the roar. First, I just hear them, but then I saw one fly by and then explode,’ one man said.
Another said: ‘There was a buzz that woke me up. I remember thinking: “What’s that?” The sound was approaching and then there was an explosion near the house.’
According to reports, the first recorded use of the drones was in Yemen in Houthi-controlled areas. Now, Iran is reported to have sold hundreds of the drones to Russia.
Tehran has denied that it is selling the deadly munitions to the Kremlin, but there is mounting evidence that Moscow’s armies have been using them since September against the Ukrainian military to make up for a lack of artillery firepower.
Ukrainian military officials say the drones are cheaper and less sophisticated than cruise missiles – but can have a similarly devastating affect on their target.
There are concerns among Ukraine’s military leaders that if they are not supplied an effective counter-measure, the drones could destroy western-supplied artillery, which have successfully been used to push Russian forces back east.
The almost 12-foot long Shahed 136 is designed with a delta-wing shape, with stabilising rudders at the top of the aircraft.
The explosives are contained in the nose of the drone, as well as the technology that guides it to its targets for a precision strike. The engine, meanwhile, is found at the rear of the drone, and drives two bladed propellers.
It has been compared to an engine one would find on a lawnmower or a moped.
‘Its motor sounds like a [motorbike]. You can spot it when it’s a few kilometres away,’ a Ukrainian soldier named only as Magyar told RFE.
‘That’s my advice to the military. They fly low and are slow, so you can shoot them down,’ he said, noting the drones are usually used against larger targets. ‘They carry such a load of explosives that it doesn’t make sense to use them against infantry.’
Overall, the drone weighs 440lbs, and can fly at speeds of almost 120mph.
In order to overwhelm air defences, several of the drones (batches of five and above) are launched at once from the same rack. They are fired almost horizontally with rocket-launch assistance.
The rocket is jettisoned on take-off, with the engine taking over once it is airbourne.
On Friday, Oleksandr Starukh – the regional governor of Zaporizhzhia – said such drones damaged to facilities in the city. On Wednesday, other Ukrainian officials said the drones were used to target the town of Bila Tserkva – 50 miles south of Kyiv.
The attacks destroyed several buildings in the town, Newsweek reported.
