Russia launches drone strikes on Ukraine’s Kyiv: reports
Russia has carried out a drone attack against Ukraine’s capital Kyiv overnight, damaging a dozen houses and a high-rise building in the region, according to officials. It is reported by Upmp.news with reference to “Polskie Radio”.
The strike was conducted using Iranian-made Shahed “kamikaze” drones in the early hours of Tuesday, Polish state news agency PAP reported.
Serhiy Popko, who heads Kyiv’s military administration, said in a post on the social messaging app Telegram: “The enemy attacked Kyiv from the air for the second time this month.”
He added that Ukraine’s air defence systems had shot down all the Shahed drones launched by Russia before they reached their targets, Britain’s The Guardian newspaper reported.
Ruslan Kravchenko, the head of the military administration in the Kyiv region, announced later in the morning that 12 private buildings and one high-rise building had been damaged by falling drone debris in the province, the Ukrainska Pravda website reported.
The damage was minor, including broken windows, doors, facades and roofs, according to officials.
No hit was recorded and there were no casualties, Kravchenko said.
Falling debris also set grassy areas ablaze in several places, and the fires were extinguished, Ukrainska Pravda reported.
In all, Russia fired 28 Shahed unmanned aerial vehicles against Ukraine from the southeast on the night of July 10-11, and 26 of them were taken down by the Ukrainian air defences, Ukraine’s Air Force has said.
One Zala reconnaissance drone was also destroyed, according to officials.
The remaining two “kamikaze” drones struck the administration building of a port facility in Ukraine’s southern city of Odesa, The Guardian reported.
As a result, two port terminals, including a grain one, caught fire, authorities said.
The fire was extinguished and there were no critical damages or injuries, according to The Guardian.
Odesa is one of the ports included in the Black Sea Grain Initiative, designed to bring Ukraine’s grain exports to the world, which expires next week, The Guardian reported.
Russia’s overnight strikes against Ukraine came just hours before the start of NATO’s annual summit, this time being held in Vilnius, Lithuania, with security threats from Moscow set to dominate discussions, according to news outlets.
Meanwhile, the death toll from Russia’s air strike on Ukraine’s southeastern frontline city of Orikihv on Sunday has risen to seven, The Kyiv Independent website reported on Tuesday morning.
Three more bodies were retrieved from the rubble before the search and rescue operation was completed on Monday, Ukraine’s State Emergency Service said.
Russia dropped an aerial-guided bomb on a school in Orikhiv, in Zaporizhzhia region, on Sunday, while humanitarian aid was being distributed there, The Kyiv Independent reported.
Four women and a 47-year-old man were killed on the spot and 13 people were injured, according to Zaporizhzhia governor Yurii Malashko.
Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, 2022, launching the largest military campaign in Europe since World War II.
Tuesday is day 503 of Russia’s war on Ukraine.
(pm)
Source: PAP, Ukrainska Pravda, The Guardian, The Kyiv Independent