KYIV — In the largest aerial attack since its invasion started, Russia barraged Ukraine with 75 Shahed drones overnight, Ukrainian officials said on Saturday.
Most of the drones were aimed at Kyiv and the region around the capital, the Ukrainian Air Force said in a statement.
Ukrainian forces managed to shoot down all but one of the Shahed kamikaze drones, as well as an X-59 cruise missile over the Dnipro region, the Ukrainian air force said.
The assault included the highest number of Russian drones to be deployed in one night since Moscow launched its all-out invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
The air attack lasted more than six hours, Kyiv Mayor Vitaliy Klitschko said in a statement. Anti-aircraft missiles, tactical aviation, mobile fire groups, and electronic warfare units were involved in repelling the air attack.
No deaths were reported as a result of the barrage, but falling debris damaged buildings. In Kyiv, a fire broke out at a kindergarten, while windows were damaged in neighboring houses. Debris damaged the second floor of a five-story building, where two women had to be evacuated, Klitschko said.
Five people were injured in total, the mayor said.
As a result of the attack, more than 12,000 households in the capital were temporarily cut off from electricity, Ukraine’s state energy operator Ukrenergo said. Power cuts were also reported in the Donetsk, Kharkiv, Kherson, Cherkasy and Sumy regions.
