Ukrainian officials say Russia is launching the largest drone attack on Kiev since the beginning of the war

Kyiv, Ukraine
CNN
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On Saturday, Russia launched its largest drone attack against… Ukraine The capital of Kiev since the start of its invasion, according to local officials.

“Total is about 75 Shahid drones They were launched from two directions – Primorsko-Akhtarsk and the Kursk region of Russia. “The primary target was the city of Kiev,” the Ukrainian Air Force said in a post on the Telegram app, describing the attack as a “record number” of drones.

It said air defenses intercepted 71 Iranian-made drones across six regions of Ukraine – but the vast majority of the drones were intercepted in the Kiev region.

The Air Force said, “Anti-aircraft missile forces, tactical aviation, mobile fire groups, and electronic warfare units participated in repelling the air attack.” It added that a Kh-59 guided missile was also destroyed in the Dnipropetrovsk region.

Mykhailo Shamanov, spokesman for the military administration of the city of Kiev, described several waves of drones coming from different directions towards the capital.

A CNN producer in Kiev heard loud explosions and repeated booms as drones flew overhead. The city’s military administration warned residents to take cover, saying: “A large number of hostile drones are entering Kiev from different directions! We urge you to remain in shelters until the alarm sounds!”

This is the fourth drone attack on Kiev this month, according to Shamanov.

At least two people were injured in the Solomyansky district of Kiev, according to Kiev Mayor Vitali Klitschko.

Klitschko said several locations in the Solomyansky district caught fire, including a residential building and other non-residential buildings.

He added that the second floor of a five-storey residential building in the Solomyansky district was damaged, and that debris from the downed drones fell on two residential buildings – one in the Dneprovsky district, the other in the Holosyevsky district.

In a separate statement, Serhiy Popko, head of the military administration of the city of Kiev, said that a fire broke out in a kindergarten building after a drone was shot down in the Solomyansky district.

The country’s Ministry of Energy said the attack cut power to an overhead line, knocking out power to 77 residential buildings and 120 institutions in the city centre.