Kyiv Hit by 'Most Massive' Drone Attack Since War Began

Ukraine said on Saturday it had downed 74 out of 75 Russian attack drones overnight, in what Kyiv said was the biggest drone attack since the start of the invasion. 

"The air force destroyed 74 Shahed 131/136 attack UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles). The vast majority of them were destroyed in the Kyiv region," the air force said on social media.

Air raid sirens kicked off in Kyiv just before 2:00 a.m. Around two hours later, a Kyiv Post reporter in the Solomianskyi district heard what appeared to be the sounds of anti-aircraft fire and then an explosion nearby. 

Drone debris fell in several districts of the city, injuring at least two people, including an 11-year-old child., Mayor Vitali Klitschko said in a post on Telegram. 

"At this time, there are two victims in the Solomyansky district. Both received medical aid on the spot", Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko wrote on Telegram.

An apartment building in the district had been damaged by falling debris and emergency services were working to extract two women from the rubble, he added.

Several fires were reported in the same district, including one at a kindergarten, according to Klitschko. 

Debris from drones shot down by Ukrainian anti-aircraft defence also fell on Pechersky district.

In total, approximately 75 Iranian UAVs were launched by Russia from two different directions – Primorsko-Akhtarsk and the Kursk Region. All of them were primarily targeted at the city of Kyiv.

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The attack is part of a series of AFU strikes on oil refineries in both Russia and the occupied territories of Ukraine since the beginning of 2024.

To counter the air assault, Ukrainian anti-aircraft missile forces, tactical aviation, mobile fire groups, and electronic warfare units were deployed. Additionally, in the Dnipropetrovsk region, an X-59 guided aviation missile was intercepted and destroyed.

The drone attack came as Ukraine marked Holodomor Remembrance Day, commemorating the 1930s starvation of millions in Ukraine under Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin. 

President Volodymyr Zelensky expressed his views on social media, stating, "More than 70 Shahed on the night of the Holodomor Remembrance Day... The Russian leadership is proud of the fact that it can kill."

Holodomor, translated as "death by starvation" in Ukrainian, was a deliberate consequence of the Soviet Union's agricultural policies. 

"They tried to subdue us, to kill us, to exterminate us. They failed,"  Zelensky added.

Zelensky said Russia's current attacks on Ukraine were possible because of what he called uncondemned crimes of the past. 

"In the last century, famine came from Moscow. Now, we hear words of denial from there. And every one of these words of denial actually sounds like a confession," Zelensky said.