Ukraine said on Sunday that it had countered “the most important drone attack” on Kiev “since the start of the Russian invasion”, which however left two dead and three injured, Volodymyr Zelensky hailing “the heroes” of the anti-aircraft defense.
“The Russian Federation has carried out another massive attack on the territory of Ukraine” using Iranian-made Shahed drones, the Ukrainian forces’ general staff said at the end of the day, according to which 58 of these 59 devices explosives were knocked down.
The Russians were particularly seeking to reach “military installations and essential infrastructure in the central regions of the country, in particular in the Kiev region”, explained the air force.
The military authorities specified that forty of these drones had been sent over the capital, targeted for the fourteenth time in a month, an unprecedented series.
Russia for its part accused, through its Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, the West of “playing with fire” after the recent agreement given by the United States to future deliveries of F-fighter planes. 16 to Ukraine, denouncing an “unacceptable escalation”.
“Our Heroes”
The intensity of the muffled noises in the night marked the inhabitants of kyiv.
“People are in shock. The damage is significant, the windows are broken, the roof is damaged”, deplores to AFP Serguiï Movtchane, 50, who lives in the district of Pecherskiï, where the debris of a drone put out of action by the anti-aircraft defense damaged his building, but no casualties.
“This is the most important drone attack against the capital since the beginning of the Russian invasion”, denounced the regional military administration, specifying that this “took place in several waves” and that “the air alert lasted more than five hours”.
“More than 40 Russian drones were destroyed by anti-aircraft defense” over kyiv, she assured.
An efficiency hailed by the Ukrainian president: “Every time you shoot down enemy drones and missiles, lives are saved. […] You are our heroes,” Volodymyr Zelensky told the air defense servicemen.
“Unfortunately, there were places affected in the Zhytomyr region”, in the center-west, he then lamented in his evening message, without further details.
Russia “will not be saved by the Shaheds or any other means of terror”, he insisted.
‘Intimidate us’
“Kiev, a city of free and brave people, has become a symbol of the unshakeable spirit of Ukraine and the failed imperial ambitions of the Kremlin,” praised Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov for his part.
Mykhaïlo Podoliak, one of the main advisers to the Ukrainian head of state, for his part pointed the finger at the responsibility of Iran, whose Shahed drones are used by Russia.
“Iran today is a terrorist regime that poses a threat to Europe and the Middle East,” he said, promising retaliatory sanctions.
The authorities recorded Sunday two dead and three wounded in this new “massive” attack on the capital, to use the qualifier used by its mayor Vitali Klitschko.
The Russians want to “intimidate us”, reacted Serguiï Movtchane. “But I think it’s the agony of their regime.”
This is the fourteenth Russian drone attack on kyiv since the beginning of May, according to the authorities, and it is on a scale never seen in recent months.
drone war
The drone war thus continues to rage between Ukraine and Russia, the use of these small remotely piloted devices in conflict zones having increased exponentially on the Ukrainian front.
Russian territory has also been the target in recent weeks of a series of such attacks, in addition to sabotage, at the very time when Kiev says it is finalizing its preparations for an assault intended to reconquer all the occupied areas.
The most spectacular attack in Russia dates back to May 3 in the heart of Moscow when two drones were shot down over the Kremlin, the official residence and occasional workplace of President Vladimir Putin.
In addition to this incident, it is generally the regions bordering Ukraine that are targeted, rear bases for the supply of Russian troops.
While Russia tirelessly accuses kyiv — and its Western backers — of being behind these attacks, Ukraine generally denies any involvement.