Valentyn Ogirenko/Reuters
Police officers inspect the campus of a kindergarten damaged during Russian drone strikes in Kyiv, Ukraine, on November 25, 2023.
Kiev, Ukraine
CNN
—
It carried out its largest ever drone strike against Russia on Saturday of Ukraine According to the local authorities, it was the capital of Kai from the beginning of its invasion.
“Almost 75 in total Shahed Drones Launched from both directions: Primorsko-Akhtarsk and Kursk region of Russia. The main target was the city of Kyiv,” Ukraine’s Air Force said in a Telegram post, describing the attack as a “record number” of drones.
It said air defenses intercepted 71 Iranian-made drones in six regions of Ukraine – but most of the drones were intercepted in the Kyiv region.
“Anti-aircraft missile troops, tactical aviation, mobile fire teams and electronic warfare units are involved in repelling the air attack,” the Air Force said. It added that a Kh-59 guided missile was also destroyed in the Dnipropetrovsk region.
Mykhailo Shamanov, a spokesman for the Kyiv City Military Administration, described several waves of drones coming from different directions toward the capital.
A CNN producer in Kiev heard loud explosions and repeated bangs as the drones buzzed overhead. The city’s military administration warned residents to take cover: “A large number of enemy UAVs are entering Kiev from different directions! We ask you to remain in shelters until the alarm goes off!”
According to Shamanov, this is the fourth drone strike in Kyiv this month.
Kyiv Mayor Vitaly Klitschko said at least two people were injured in Kyiv’s Solomyanskyi district.
The fire broke out in several places in the Solomianskyi district, including a residential building and other non-residential premises, Klitschko said.
He said that the second floor of a five-story residential building in Solomiansky district was damaged, and debris from downed drones fell on two residential buildings – one in Dnibrovsky district, the other in Holozivsky district.
In a separate statement, Serhii Popko, head of the Kyiv City Military Administration, said a fire broke out at a kindergarten complex after a drone was shot down in Solomianskyi district.
The attack knocked out power to 77 residential buildings and 120 businesses in the center of the city.
