Russia launches biggest drone strike of war so far on Ukraine

Russia launched a record number of Shahed drones at targets in Ukraine overnight, the Ukrainian Air Force announced on Saturday.

The Russian military launched around 75 drones in total, 71 of which were shot down by air defence systems in the Kyiv, Sumy, Dnipropetrovsk, Zaporizhzhia, Mykolaiv and Kirovhrad regions, according to a Ukrainian Air Force statement on Telegram. The Armed Forces of Ukraine also reported shooting down an X-59 guided missile over the Dnipropetrovsk region.

Two thirds of the drones targeted Kyiv, where the air-raid alert lasted for six hours, the city administration said. Five people were injured, including a child, according to Reuters.

Drone debris landed on several residential buildings in Kyiv, Mayor Vitaliy Klitschko said, adding that there had been fires in a kindergarten and a non-residential building. 

The Kyiv city administration called the attack in the early hours of Saturday “symbolic”, noting that it coincided with Holodomor Remembrance Day, which honours the victims of the Great Ukrainian Famine of 1930–33. “This is how they continue the genocide of Ukraine and Ukrainians”, it added.