Officials: Drone strikes hit two buildings in Ukrainian capital
14 December 2022, 17:30
The blasts were reported in the Kyiv city centre district, home to many government offices, on Wednesday.
Two administration buildings in Ukraine’s capital have been hit by drone strikes, authorities in the war-torn country said.
The blasts were reported in the Kyiv city centre district, home to many government offices, on Wednesday.
Mayor Vitali Klitschko said in a Telegram post municipal teams were in place after the explosions, with officials saying the attack involved Iranian-made Shahed drones like those authorities say have been involved in other Russian strikes in Ukraine.
Shrapnel from one drone damaged two administrative buildings in the central Shevchenkyvskyi district, the Kyiv city administration said on its Telegram channel.
Latest Defence Intelligence update on the situation in Ukraine – 14 December 2022
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It was not immediately clear whether there were any casualties.
Regional governor Oleksii Kuleba said Ukrainian forces shot down 10 self-explosive drones over Kyiv and the region on Wednesday.
Ukraine’s air defence forces wrote on their Telegram channel they had shot down 10 Shaheds launched from the eastern coast of the Azov Sea and “combat work is still ongoing”.
The capital remained largely calm after the attack, which happened at about dawn and before the start of the business day, and any destruction appeared to be very limited.
The reported explosions went largely unnoticed even in the central district.
But Kyrylo Tymoshenko, a top official in the office of President Volodymyr Zelensky, said “the danger is not over yet” on the social media channel.
He said a private home in the south-west suburb of Vyshneve has been hit.
The reported attacks come after a barrage of Russian air strikes across Ukraine, largely targeting infrastructure, in recent weeks as well as continued fighting along the front lines in the eastern and southern regions.
Ukrainian authorities said during the latest round of volleys on December 5, more than 60 of 70 strikes were intercepted by air defence systems, including nine out of 10 targeting the capital and its region.
US officials said on Tuesday the United States was poised to approve sending a Patriot missile battery to Ukraine, agreeing to an urgent request from Ukrainian leaders desperate for more robust weapons to shoot down incoming Russian missiles.
Mr Zelensky pressed western leaders as recently as Monday to provide more advanced weapons to help his country in its war with Russia.
The Patriot would be the most advanced surface-to-air missile system the West has provided to Ukraine to help repel Russian aerial attacks in the war between the countries, which erupted with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on February 24.
US officials also said last week that Moscow has been looking to Iran to resupply the Russian military with drones and surface-to-surface missiles.
