A Russian drone attack on Kyiv wounded three people, two of whom were hospitalised, officials in the Ukrainian capital stated on Wednesday. Falling debris from a destroyed drone damaged a non-residential building in Kyiv’s Dniprovskyi district, mayor Vitali Klitschko stated on social media.
Serhiy Popko, head of Kyiv’s military administration, said that air defence units were operating in the city after midnight on Wednesday.
The Ukrainian military said its air defences downed 36 of 89 Russian drones launched overnight. The military said it had lost track of 48 drones, and another five had left the territory of Ukraine for Russia and Belarus.
The strikes come after Russia launched a record number of drones targeting Ukraine on Tuesday, cutting power to much of the western region of Ternopil and damaging residential buildings in the Kyiv region.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Sunday stated that his country Ukraine needs to strengthen its air defences to protect people after its forces shot down 50 of the 73 drones launched by Russia over many regions.
“An air alert has been sounded almost daily across Ukraine this week,” Zelenskyy stated.
Over the past week Russia used more than 800 guided aerial bombs, about 460 attack drones, and more than 20 missiles of various types, Zelenskyy said.
Last week, Zelenskyy said that his country was attempting to develop new types of air defence systems to counter “new risks” following Russia’s deployment of the new medium-range Oreshnik missile in the conflict nearing the three-year mark.
The Kremlin said the firing of the Oreshnik was a warning to the West against taking further “reckless” actions and decisions in support of Ukraine.
The Oreshnik missile was fired with conventional, not nuclear warheads. Putin said it was not a strategic nuclear weapon but its striking power and accuracy meant that its impact would be comparable, “especially when used in a massive group and in combination with other high-precision long-range systems”.
The Oreshnik missile was said to have been fired in response to Ukraine firing U.S.-made ATACMS deep inside Russian territory by Ukraine.
Team Bharatshakti
(With inputs from Reuters)
