In a recent significant escalation of the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine, Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine, was subjected to the largest drone attack since the war began in February 2022.
This attack, carried out by Russia, involved a series of drone strikes that began in the early hours of a Saturday, waking residents with the sound of air defenses and explosions.
The attack spanned different districts of Kyiv, continuing as the sun rose, and prompted an air raid warning that lasted for six hours.
Ukraine’s Air Force Chief, Mykola Oleschuk, reported that out of 75 drones launched at Ukraine, 71 were successfully downed.
He highlighted the role of ‘mobile fire’ units, typically consisting of fast pickup trucks equipped with a machine gun or flak cannon, which were instrumental in downing nearly 40% of these drones.
The drone strikes resulted in injuries to five people, including an 11-year-old girl, and caused damage across various city districts.
A children’s nursery was among the affected sites, where fragments from a downed drone ignited a fire.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy condemned the attack, which occurred on the same day Ukrainians remember the Holodomor, a famine in 1932-33 that resulted in the deaths of several million people.
Zelenskiy described the attack as an act of “wilful terror,” drawing parallels between the Holodomor and Russia’s current invasion.
Ukraine, along with over 30 other countries, recognizes the Holodomor as a genocide of the Ukrainian people by the Soviet Union, which aimed to suppress Ukraine’s desire for independence.
The specific target of this drone attack was not immediately clear, but there has been speculation that Russia may be intending to resume its aerial campaign to destroy Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, similar to its efforts last winter.
The attack left nearly 200 buildings in Kyiv, including 77 residential ones, without power, prompting concerns about the implications for the coming winter season.
