Russia attacked Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, before dawn on Wednesday, sending 13 Iranian-made drones from the Sea of Azov to the city, according to Ukrainian officials. Most of the drones were destroyed by Ukrainian air defences, they said, and there were no immediate reports of casualties.
Two government buildings in Kyiv and at least four homes in the region surrounding the capital were damaged, officials said, but it was unclear whether they were hit by direct strikes or falling debris from drones shot out of the sky.
President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine praised the air defence systems in a brief video message published on the Telegram messaging app and said that all of the drones appeared to have been shot down.
Kyiv and other parts of Ukraine have been subject to Russian missile attacks in recent weeks that have taken out power and other infrastructure as the country heads into the cold winter months.
The first sound that Yaroslav Vinokurov, 24, heard shortly before 6 a.m. was the wailing of the air-raid alarm in the darkness. He continued to get ready for work, given that alarms sound nearly every day. But soon machine-gun fire echoed through the Shevchenkivskyi district as air-defence systems flashed in the sky, followed by what he described as “a very loud explosion.”
“I lay down on the floor, as I didn’t know what else can happen,” Vinokurov said.
Only once it was quiet did he go outside.
The roof of a nearby government building was damaged, and debris littered the area. “My car is destroyed,” he said, looking over the damage. Residents rushed to put sheets, blankets and whatever else they could find onto damaged windows to protect themselves from the bitter cold. It was -5° Celsius — well below freezing — when the sun rose at about 7.50am (local time).
Just two days before the strikes, Yurii Ihnat, the spokesman for Ukraine’s Air Force, warned that Russian forces were now using attack drones at night. If the drones are launched during the day,he said, Ukrainians can use large-calibre machine guns and other small arms to shoot them down.
But in the darkness, they need expensive and limited air defence missile systems that can track incoming drones by radar. Even in the darkness, residents of the capital have become familiar with the sounds of Russia’s unrelenting aerial bombardment.
US approval
The US is poised to approve sending its most advanced ground-based air defence system to Ukraine, responding to the country’s urgent request to help defend against an onslaught of a Russian missile and drone attacks, two U.S. officials said on Tuesday. Defence secretary Lloyd J. Austin III could approve a directive as early as this week to transfer one Patriot battery already overseas to Ukraine, the officials said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations.
Final approval would then rest with President Biden.
New York Times News Service
