Massive Drone Strikes Hit Kyiv, Ukraine In Ongoing Conflict With Russia

KYIV, Ukraine — On Saturday November 25, Russia launched drone strikes on Ukraine’s capital Kyiv. The attack was the biggest since the country began its full-scale invasion on Ukraine last year, officials confirmed. 

Explosives rented the air on Saturday before dawn, awakening residents. The booms of Ukraine’s air defenses echoed through the entire Kyiv city for more than six hours. 

“A total of nearly 75 Shahed drones were launched from two directions – Primorsko-Akhtarsk and the Kursk region, Russia. The primary target was the city of Kyiv,” said Ukraine’s Air Force in a Telegram post. The officials described the attack as a “record number” of drones.

“More than 75 Iranian-made Shahed drones were fired at the capital – all but one were shot down,” said Kyiv officials.

“Air defenses intercepted 71 of the Iranian-made drones across six regions of Ukraine – but the vast majority of the drones were intercepted in the Kyiv region,” said Ukraine’s Air Force.

Saturday night defined one where the whines of Russian engines blended with the booms of the Kyiv city’s air defenses.

“Anti-aircraft missile troops, tactical aviation, mobile fire groups, and electronic warfare units were involved in repelling the air attack,” said the air force. “Moreover, a Kh-59 guided missile was also destroyed in the Dnipropetrovsk region,” it added.

“There have been no reported deaths from this attack, but at least five people were injured, including an 11-year-old child,” said Kyiv’s mayor Vitaliy Klitschko.

The mayor noted that various locations in Solomianskyi district caught fire, entailing a residential apartments alongside other non-residential premises.

“The second floor of a five-story residential building in Solomianskyi district was damaged, and that the wreckage of downed drones fell on two residential buildings – one in the Dniprovskyi district, the other in the Holosiivskyi district,” he added. 

Mykhailo Shamanov, a spokesman for the Kyiv city military administration, noted that numerous waves of drones emanated from various directions toward the capital. “A large number of enemy UAVs are entering Kyiv from different directions! We urge you to stay in shelters until the alarm goes off!” he warned.

According to Shamanov, this was the fourth drone attack since the inception of the conflict.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky referred to the attacks as an act of “wilful terror” and stated that his nation will “continue to work to unite the world in defense against Russian terror”.

Further, the president said that the strikes came at a time when Ukraine was marking Holodomor famine anniversary. “The attack came on the same day that Ukraine commemorates the 1932-1933 Holodomor famine – brought on by Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin – which killed several million Ukrainians,” he noted.

The attack further interrupted power lines. “This recent attack on Kyiv cut off power to an overhead line, leaving 77 residential buildings and 120 establishments without power in the city center,” said the Ukrainian energy ministry.