Russia launches shower of drones over Ukraine as attacks on the capital escalate

Russia deployed multiple drones overnight to attack parts of Ukraine and dozens were shot down, Ukrainian officials said on Monday, in a series of relentless attacks through the weekend that killed three civilians on New Year's Eve.

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said that 40 exploding drones “headed for Kyiv” overnight, according to air defense forces, and all of them were destroyed.

Klitschko said 22 drones were destroyed over Kyiv, three in the outlying Kyiv region and 15 over neighbouring provinces.

Energy infrastructure facilities in the capital were damaged and an explosion occurred in one city district, the mayor said.

It wasn’t immediately clear whether that was caused by drones or other munitions. A 19-year-old man was hospitalised with wounds, Klitschko added, and emergency power outages were underway.

In the outlying Kyiv region, which was also attacked with drones, a “critical infrastructure object” and residential buildings were hit, Gov. Oleksiy Kuleba said.

Seven drones were shot down over the southern Mykolaiv region, according to Gov. Vitali Kim, and three more were shot down in the southeastern Dnipropetrovsk region, Gov. Valentyn Reznichenko said.

In the Dnipropetrovsk region, a missile was also destroyed, according to Reznichenko. He said that energy infrastructure in the region was being targeted.

A blistering New Year’s Eve assault killed at least three civilians across the country, Ukrainian authorities reported, and wounded dozens.

Multiple blasts rocked the capital and other areas of Ukraine on Saturday and through the night. The strikes came 36 hours after widespread missile attacks Russia launched Thursday to damage energy infrastructure facilities, and the unusually quick follow-up alarmed Ukrainian officials.

Russia has carried out airstrikes on Ukrainian power and water supplies almost weekly since October, increasing the suffering of Ukrainians, while its ground forces struggle to hold ground and advance.