Russian troops launched a wave of drone attacks on the Ukrainian capital before dawn on Sunday for the first time in nearly two weeks, according to Ukrainian officials.
The air raid alarm sounded around 02:30 in the capital, Kyiv. An explosion was later reported.
Serhiy Popko, head of the city's military administration, said that the air defense had destroyed all the drones in Kyiv's airspace. This was the first time in 12 days that Russian forces had used an Iranian-made drone to target the capital, he said said in a statement in the Telegram messaging app.
No one was killed, but debris from the downed drone damaged three houses in the Kyiv region, according to the local military administration in a statement on Telegram. One man suffered a leg injury in one of the homes, he added.
The Ukrainian Air Force said that Russia had launched a total of eight Iranian-made Shahed-136 attack drones and three cruise missiles at targets across the country overnight, all of which were destroyed.
Russia has repeatedly launched drone attacks on Kyiv since its full-scale invasion began in February 2022. Ukraine's complex air defense network has become increasingly adept at intercepting Russian attacks, often shooting down most of the drones.
Last night's drone strike came as the Ukrainian military reported “fierce battle” on the frontline in the east, one of the areas where Kyiv forces launched a grueling counteroffensive to retake territory captured by the Russians.
The Ukrainian military also said on Sunday that “fierce fighting” was taking place near the Antonovsky Bridge in the southern region of Kherson. Natalia Humeniuk, spokeswoman for the Ukrainian military's southern command, described the fighting as a “counter-battery war” – or an attempt to seize Russian firing positions.
In November, Russian troops withdrew from the city of Kherson, on the west bank of the Dnipro River, and retreated across. Since then, from new positions in small towns and swampy areas along the eastern bank, they have been shelling Kherson and nearby towns incessantly.
Ukrainian regional military administration for Kherson said on Sunday that Russian troops had carried out 86 attacks on the town over the past day, wounding five people, including three children. The details cannot be independently verified.
Military analysts said that fighting near the Antonovsky Bridge – which was a strategic transport route from the city of Kherson across the Dnipro River before it was destroyed by retreating Russian troops – had escalated in the past week. Russian military bloggers have suggested that Kyiv troops may be trying to establish a foothold on the east bank of the river.
On Saturday, Britain's defense intelligence agency said that Ukrainian troops were “almost certain” has moved personnel to the east bank river. And the Russian Ministry of Defense claims that they have “neutralized” a group of Ukrainian soldiers who tried to land the boat on a river island.
The claims could not be independently verified, but local residents and Russian military bloggers said last week that boats carrying Ukrainian soldiers had been sighted around the bridge and that Ukrainian troops appeared to be seizing more of the river islands and marsh banks around the town. Kherson, in the possible expansion of the Kyiv counteroffensive.