- By Jaroslav Lukiv
- BBC news
Russia carried out a new large-scale overnight drone attack on the Ukrainian capital Kyiv, killing at least one person, local officials said.
Kyiv mayor Vitaliy Klitschko said one person was killed when drone wreckage fell near a gas station. A woman was injured.
In total, Russia launched a record 54 so-called kamikaze drones at Ukrainian targets, 52 of which were shot down, the Air Force of Ukraine reported.
In Kyiv alone, more than 40 drones were downed, officials said.
This information has not been independently verified.
Russia – which launched a full-scale invasion in February 2022 – has in recent weeks stepped up its attacks on Kyiv, seeking to overwhelm the capital’s defenses.
On Sunday, air raid alerts were activated in 12 regions of Ukraine, from Volyn in the northwest to Dnipropetrovsk in the southeast.
In a post on social media, Mr Klitschko urged Kyiv residents to “stay in shelters”, warning of drone attacks and a “difficult” night ahead.
He said that at least two tall buildings in different districts of the capital caught fire after being hit by falling fragments of the drone.
Officials in Kyiv also reported that warehouses in the southern district of Holosiyivsky were on fire.
Emergency workers have been deployed.
The latest attack comes as city residents mark the annual Kyiv Day – a popular holiday in peaceful times.
There were also reports of explosions in the city of Zhytomyr, west of Kyiv.
The air alert was later lifted in the capital and the entire country.
In its recent attacks, Russia has used so-called kamikaze drones as well as a variety of cruise and ballistic missiles.
The attacks preceded a widely expected Ukrainian counter-offensive.
On Saturday, one of Ukraine’s top security officials told the BBC that the country was ready to launch such an operation.
Oleksiy Danilov, secretary of Ukraine’s powerful National Security and Defense Council, said the offensive to retake the territory from the occupying forces of President Vladimir Putin could begin “tomorrow, the day after or in a week”.
Ukraine has been planning a counter-offensive for months. But it wants as much time as possible to train troops and receive military equipment from Western allies.