New Delhi: Russia unleashed a new wave of air strikes on Kyiv, the Ukrainian capital, Sunday in what officials said appeared to be the largest drone attack on the city since the start of the war. The last Sunday in May marks the anniversary of Kyiv’s founding.
According to the Ukrainian Air Force, Russian launched 54 alleged Iranian-made ‘kamikaze’ drones against Kyiv overnight of which 52 were destroyed.
Following the attack, Kyiv’s mayor Vitali Klitschko said a 41-year-old man was killed when a drone wreckage fell near a petrol station. According to a BBC report, a 35-year-old woman in the city was injured. “Stay in shelters. The attack is massive!” Klitschko told residents.
Meanwhile, as Kyiv began celebrations for its Founding Day anniversary, Andriy Yermak, head of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s office, said on his Telegram channel, “The history of Ukraine is a longstanding irritant for the insecure Russians.”
There were also reports of explosions in the city of Zhytomyr, located to the west of Kyiv.
Serhiy Popko, head of Ukraine’s military administration said via Telegram that the enemy (Russia) has decided to “congratulate” the people of Kyiv on “Kyiv Day” with the “help of their deadly UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles)”.
He also stated that the attack was carried out in several waves and the air alert lasted over five hours.
With Ukraine planning a counter-offensive, Oleksiy Danilov, secretary of the National Security and Defence Council of Ukraine, told the BBC Saturday that an assault to retake territory from Russian President Vladimir Putin’s occupying forces could begin “tomorrow, the day after tomorrow or in a week”.
(Edited By Richa Mishra)
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