Firefighters work at a site of a warehouse heavily damaged during a Russian drone strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv region, Ukraine, released December 21, 2023
Credit: Reuters Photo
Russian drones targeted the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, early on Friday, injuring two people and damaging property in the city in Moscow's latest overnight drone strike against Ukraine.
It was the sixth such attack on the capital this month and part of a larger drone swarm that targeted parts of central, southern and western Ukraine, the country's air force said.
Ukrainian air defence shot down 24 out of 28 attack drones, it said.
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko, writing on the Telegram messaging app, said a drone had hit a block of flats in the Solomyanskyi district, south of the city centre, triggering a fire on the upper floors that was quickly brought under control.
Emergency services also said several apartments were damaged on the 24th, 25th and 26th storeys of the building. Two people were injured, including one being treated in hospital.
The incident occurred a few hundred metres from a maternity hospital.
A video posted on social media showed a giant orange flame going skyward in the night.
Klitschko also said drone fragments had set fire to a house under construction in Darnytskyi district on the eastern bank of the Dnipro River that runs through the city.
He said there were no injuries. Pictures posted online showed construction materials strewn about the site.
Serhiy Popko, head of Kyiv's military administration, reported fragments from a downed drone had struck an apartment building in a third area— Holosiivskyi district, also south of the city centre.
Popko posted pictures showing smashed windows and heavy damage to apartments.