Russia launched the largest drone attack it has ever directed at the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, before dawn on Saturday, sending wave after wave of drones packed with explosives toward a city that is home to more than three million people.
The Ukrainian Air Force said that the attack featured “a record number” of one-way attack drones. At least five people were injured in Saturday’s attack, city officials said, and dozens of homes damaged or destroyed.
Searchlights swept the predawn skies as air defense teams hunted for the drones approaching the city from all directions. The first alarms sounded shortly after 2:30 a.m., and the rattle of antiaircraft guns and powerful explosions echoed for hours, the noisiest night that Kyiv has endured in months. The distant glow of fires was visible from the city center.
President Volodymyr Zelensky called the bombardment “deliberate terror.” “The Russian leadership is proud of its ability to kill,” he said, noting that the attack came on the day that Ukrainians pay tribute to the millions killed in the Holodomor, a famine orchestrated by Stalin.
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