The Ukrainian military said on Friday that it had repelled an overnight drone attack on the country, including on the capital Kyiv, a day after Russia launched a barrage of missiles on the war-battered nation.
“On the night of December 29-30, the enemy attacked Ukraine with Iranian-made kamikaze drones,” the Ukrainian air force said on Telegram.
It added that a total of 16 drones were launched from the southeastern and northern directions and they were “all” destroyed by Ukraine’s air defense.
In the capital Kyiv, the city authorities announced an air alert at 2:12 am local time, which lasted for just over two hours.
Mayor Vitaly Klitschko later said the capital was attacked with seven drones: two were shot down “on approach” and five over the city.
There were no casualties but falling debris damaged windows in two buildings in a southwestern neighborhood, he added.
On Thursday morning, blasts were reported across Ukraine — including in Kyiv, the second city Kharkiv in the east, and the western city of Lviv near the border with Poland.
The Ukrainian military said Russia had launched 69 cruise missiles, 54 of which had been shot down.
The attacks came 10 months into Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine. In recent months Russian strikes have targeted the energy grid, leaving millions in the cold in the middle of winter.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky said most regions of the country had been left without power following Thursday’s attack.
