Russia launched a devastating barrage of “kamikaze” drones at the Ukrainian capital on Monday in a fresh assault that ignited apartments as soldiers fired into the sky.
Just a week after the Kremlin’s forces launched a devastating bombardment against civilian and infrastructure targets all throughout the Ukraine, the drones frightened Kyiv while carrying explosives and emitting their unmistakable buzz.
Ukraine claimed that Iranian-made drones were used in the strikes, which it has accused Moscow of using more frequently as it runs out of precise missiles. Ukraine again renewed its request to its Western partners for aerial defensive assistance.
According to a senior defence official, Iran did appear to be the source of the drones that Russia used to launch attacks inside Ukraine, and according to U.S. intelligence, Iran has given Russia hundreds of unmanned aircraft capable of detonating on impact.
In the wake of a string of battlefield failures that have damaged his military’s hold on the area Moscow claims to have taken as well as the Kremlin’s influence over the mood at home, Russian President Vladimir Putin has intensified his attacks on Ukrainian cities.
Vitali Klitschko, the mayor of Kiev, claimed that five explosions that shook the city early on Monday were brought on by “kamikaze” drones. He claimed that one of them struck a home in the Shevchenkivskyi neighbourhood in the city centre.
Four people, including a young family expecting a child, were killed in the incident, according to Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who also emphasised that search and rescue efforts were still going on. The focus looked to be civilians, houses, and infrastructure, he continued.
Zelenskyy declared on his official Telegram channel that “terror must lose and will lose.” And Ukraine will triumph and bring every Russian terrorist to account, including commanders and privates who carried out unlawful orders.
19 individuals were rescued from the building, according to Kyrylo Tymoshenko, the deputy head of the Ukrainian president’s office, and the rescue effort is still ongoing.
The number of persons who were killed, hurt, or saved has not been confirmed
After it looked that multiple floors had collapsed, authorities moved swiftly to remove the debris and search for anyone missing. The stench of smoke and fire, together with dust from the debris, filled the air.
Anna Frolova, a resident of Kyiv, told NBC News that the morning had gotten off to a “terrible start” because she believed the Russians had “enough” after attacking crucial infrastructure in her city last week.
“It appears that they still haven’t had enough because now they are now attacking residential buildings, which is killing people. And this is frightening,” said Frolova, 52.
She continued, “I feel dread, pain, fury, and hate,” pledging to remain in the capital despite the strikes. Hatred for, well, these individuals who have permitted this to take place in the twenty-first century. This mediaeval conflict
Around 9:30 a.m., the initial wave of air raid sirens stopped. On what turned out to be a sunny, mild day, life appeared to have rapidly returned to relative normality around local time (2:30 a.m. ET). The threat of another nosediving drone faded, only for the warnings to soon reappear, and the city centre was packed with automobiles and people.
Additionally, rocket attacks were reported by Ukrainian officials in the northeastern Sumy region, the central Dnipropetrovsk region, and the southern port city of Odesa. Officials in the southern city of Mykolaiv, where deadly rocket assaults last week devastated the top two floors of a residential structure, also reported drone attacks during the course of the night.
Andrii Yermak, the chief of Zelenskyy’s office, demanded more Western air defence systems “as quickly as feasible.”
With regard to the Iranian-made Shahed-136 drones that both Washington and Kyiv accuse Tehran of delivering to Moscow for use in Ukraine, Klitschko posted a photograph of what he claimed to be the wreckage of one of the drones involved in the attack on Kyiv. Iran has refuted the allegations. NBC News was unable to confirm the image.
28 drones flew above Kyiv on Monday morning, according to the mayor, but the majority of them were shot down. According to Anton Gerashchenko, an assistant to the Ukrainian Minister of Internal Affairs, Russia attacked Ukraine on Monday with a total of 42 drones, of which 36 were shot down.
The national energy provider of Ukraine, Ukrenergo, stated that it could not completely rule out the prospect of rolling blackouts in the impacted areas because the Russian attack also targeted energy facilities in south and central Ukraine.
Zelenskyy’s advisor Mykhailo Podolyak stated on Twitter that “Iran is to blame for the killings of Ukrainians, the country also “oppresses its own people,” and is now providing Russia with “weapons for mass murder in the heart of Europe,” according to the statement.
In the situation where punishments are insufficient, Podolyak tweeted, “That is what unfinished business and concessions to tyranny mean.”
At a press conference on Monday, Vedant Patel, the deputy spokesperson for the State Department, stated that Iran’s provision of the drones did appear to be a violation of UN Security Council resolution 2231, a crucial clause of the Iran nuclear agreement, and that additional sanctions against Iran could be a possibility.
The world, especially those in the area and around the world, should, in my opinion, view Russia’s escalating partnership with Iran as a serious concern, and any nation should pay close attention to it “added Patel.
Although the Russian Defense Ministry did not specifically mention drone attacks on Kyiv, it did claim on Monday that it had attacked military and energy targets in Ukraine using “high-precision long-range air and sea-based weaponry.”
Zelenskyy issued a warning earlier this month on Russia’s growing use of drones built in Iran, which posed a new challenge for the nation’s air defences and alarmed Kiev’s Western partners due to Tehran’s apparent assistance for Russia in the conflict.
According to military specialists who spoke to NBC News, the Shahed-136 drones, sometimes known as “kamikaze” drones because they physically crash into their targets to kill them, are affordable and can be fitted with a small payload, making them efficient precision weapons.
Analysts disagree on their operational range, but it may be as much as 1,200 miles. In reality, they are probably far shorter, but they are still powerful enough to reach any target in Ukraine from Russian-occupied territory.
During a briefing on Monday, Yuriy Ihnat, a spokesman for the Air Force Command of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, claimed that 85% of the Iranian drones that Russia had been using to strike Ukraine since Sunday night had been destroyed by the nation’s air defence systems. NBC News was unable to confirm the report.
Putin painted last week’s strikes as retaliation for a blast that destroyed his famed bridge connecting Russia to the annexation of the Crimean Peninsula.
The aerial aggressiveness sparked a resurgence of Western support for Kyiv, with President Joe Biden promising to give Ukraine the cutting-edge air defence weapons it needs to defend against similar strikes.
Previously, the White House was hesitant to utilise the technology in Ukraine for concern that it would be perceived by Russia as a move toward direct U.S. engagement in the conflict.
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