Russia unleashes its biggest drone attack of war on Kyiv
• Ukraine air force claims it downed 52 of the 54 Iranian-made flying bombs during predawn attacks on Sunday
Russia unleashed waves of air strikes on Kyiv overnight on Saturday in what officials said appeared to be the largest drone attack on the city since the start of the war, as the Ukrainian capital prepared to celebrate the anniversary of its founding on Sunday.
Ukraine’s air force said it downed 52 of the 54 Russialaunched drones, calling it a record attack with the Iranianmade “kamikaze” drones. It was not immediately clear how many of the drones were shot down over Kyiv. In what also appears to be the first deadly attack on Kyiv in May and the 14th assault this month, falling debris killed a 41-year-old man, said mayor Vitali Klitschko.
The predawn attacks came on the last Sunday of May when the capital celebrates Kyiv Day, the anniversary of its official founding 1,541 years ago. The day is typically marked by street fairs, live concerts and special museum exhibitions. Plans for this were made this year too, but on a smaller scale.
“The history of Ukraine is a long-standing irritant for the insecure Russians,” Andriy Yermak, head of President Volodymyr Zelensky’s office, said on his Telegram channel.
The air force said on Telegram that Russia had targeted military and critical infrastructure facilities in the central regions of Ukraine, and the Kyiv region in particular.
Reuters was unable to independently verify the information.
With a Ukrainian counteroffensive looming 15 months into the war, Moscow has intensified air strikes after a lull of nearly two months, targeting chiefly military sites and supplies several times a week.
The Sunday attacks came after Kyiv said that combat clashes eased around the besieged city of Bakhmut in southeastern Ukraine, the site of the war’s longest battle.
Serhiy Popko, the head of Kyiv’s military administration, said the attack was carried out in several waves, and air alerts lasted more than five hours.
“Today, the enemy decided to ‘congratulate’ the people of Kyiv on Kyiv Day with the help of their deadly UAVs [unmanned aerial vehicles],” Popko said on the Telegram messaging channel.
Several districts of Kyiv, by far the largest Ukrainian city with a population of about 3million, were hit by the overnight attacks, including the historical Pecherskyi neighbourhood, said officials.
Reuters witnesses said that during the air raid alerts that started soon after midnight, many people stood on their balconies, some shouting insults directed at Russia’s President Vladimir Putin and “Glory to air defence” slogans.
In the leafy Holosiivskyi district in the southwestern part of Kyiv, a three-storey warehouse blazed, destroying about 1,000m² of building structures, said mayor Klitschko.
A fire broke out after drone debris hit a seven-storey nonresidential building in the Solomyanskyi district west of the city. The district is a busy rail and air transport hub.
In the Pecherskyi district, a fire broke out on the roof of a nine-storey building due to falling drone debris, and in the Darnytskyi district a shop was damaged, Kyiv’s military administration officials said.