Ukraine shoots down Russian drones heading for Kyiv as attacks continue, officials say

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russia deployed several drones overnight to attack parts of Ukraine and dozens were shot down, Ukrainian officials said Monday, in a series of relentless attacks throughout the week -end who killed three civilians on New Year’s Eve.

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said 40 drones “headed towards Kyiv” overnight, according to the Air Defense Force, and they were all destroyed.

Klitschko said 22 drones were destroyed over Kyiv, three in Kyiv’s outlying region and 15 over neighboring provinces.

Energy infrastructure was damaged as a result of the attack and an explosion occurred in a part of town, the mayor said. It was not immediately clear whether this was caused by drones or other ordnance. An injured 19-year-old man was hospitalized, Klitschko added, and emergency power cuts were underway in the capital.

In Kyiv’s outlying region, a “critical infrastructure object” and residential buildings were hit, Governor Oleksiy Kuleba said.

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

In the Dnipropetrovsk region, a missile was also destroyed, according to Reznichenko. He said the region’s energy infrastructure was targeted.

The Ukrainian Air Force Command announced on Monday that 39 Iranian-made Shahed explosive drones were shot down overnight, along with two Russian-made Orlan drones and an X-59 missile across Ukraine.

A withering New Year’s Eve assault killed at least four civilians across the country, Ukrainian authorities reported, and injured dozens. The fourth victim, a 46-year-old Kyiv resident, died in a hospital on Monday morning, Klitschko said.

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

Russia has carried out airstrikes on Ukraine’s water and electricity supplies almost every week since October, increasing the suffering of Ukrainians, while its ground forces struggle to hold their ground and advance.

In Russia, a Ukrainian drone hit an energy facility in the Bryansk region on the border with Ukraine, Bryansk regional governor Alexander Bogomaz reported Monday morning. As a result, a village was left without electricity, he said.

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