By Maria Kostenko, Daria Tarasova-Markina, Jessie Yeung and Hafsa Khalil, CNN
Kiev, Ukraine (CNN) — Russia on Saturday launched its biggest drone attack on Kyiv, the Ukrainian capital, since the start of its invasion, according to local officials.
“In total, about 75 Shahed drones were introduced from two directions: Primorsko-Akhtarsk and Russia’s Kursk region. The main target was the city of Kyiv,” Ukraine’s air force said in a Telegram post, describing the attack as a “record. “number” of drones.
It says air defenses intercepted 71 Iranian-made drones in six regions of Ukraine; the vast majority of the drones were intercepted in the Kyiv region.
“Anti-aircraft missile troops, tactical aviation, cellular firing teams and electronic warfare teams were engaged in repelling the air attack,” the air force said. He added that a Kh-59 guided missile was also destroyed in the Dnipropetrovsk region.
Mykhailo Shamanov, a spokesman for the Kyiv City Military Administration, described several waves of drones coming from other directions toward the capital.
A CNN manufacturer in Kyiv heard loud explosions and repeated detonations as drones buzzed overhead. The city’s army leadership warned citizens to take cover: “A gigantic number of enemy drones are entering Kyiv from other directions!We invite you to stay in the shelters until the alarm is ringing!”
This is the fourth drone attack on Kyiv this month, against Shamanov.
At least two other people were injured in Kyiv’s Solomianskyi district, according to Kyiv Mayor Vitalii Klitschko.
Several places in the Solomianskyi district caught fire, in addition to a residential building and non-residential premises, Klitschko said.
He added that the second plot of a five-story residential construction in the Solomianskyi district was damaged and debris from the downed drones fell on two residential buildings, one in the Dniprovskyi district and the other in the Holosiivskyi district.
In a separate statement, Serhii Popko, head of the Kyiv city military directorate, said a fire broke out on the grounds of a kindergarten after a drone was shot down in the Solomianskyi district.
The country’s Ministry of Force said the recent attack on Kyiv cut off the force of an airline, leaving 77 residential buildings and 120 institutions in the city center.
The Ukrainian power company DTEK announced on Saturday that power had been restored for all citizens of Kyiv.
Last winter, Russia embarked on a sustained crusade of missile and drone attacks to cripple Ukraine’s energy infrastructure.
Khmelnytskyi, in western Ukraine, is a normal target of attacks, with shock waves from explosions damaging the region’s infrastructure, including its nuclear power plant.
“Powerful explosions” rocked the area near the Khmelnytskyi nuclear power plant last month, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said, with surprise waves shattering windows and temporarily cutting off the power to some external radiation tracking stations. He reported that two drones had been shot down in the vicinity of the site.
The IAEA said the incident “once again highlighted the risks to nuclear safety and security of the ongoing military conflict. “
While considerations persist about the country’s energy this winter, DTEK has spent the past seven months restoring infrastructure, seeking to increase production and defenses at its facilities.
“We restored what could only be restored, bought backup apparatus and installed defenses around military plants,” Maxim Timchenko, DTEK’s chief executive, told CNN earlier this month.
According to Ukraine’s deputy head of defense intelligence, Vadym Skibitsky, attacks on the country’s power grid will be more difficult for Russia to carry out this time.
Citizens are also bracing for the possibility of a forced grid shutdown. A company that installs forced garage systems nationwide has noticed a significant increase in demand as others look for off-grid solutions, while businesses and businesses purchase turbines and secondary batteries. .
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