UPDATES WITH STATEMENT FROM UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY; UPDATES NUMBER OF DRONES DOWNED BY UKRAINIAN AIR DEFENSES
By Burc Eruygur
ISTANBUL (AA) - At least two people were killed in an overnight Russian missile attack on Ukraine’s capital Kyiv, the country’s national emergency service said on Sunday.
A statement by Ukraine’s State Emergency Service said that a man and child were both killed after fragments of a downed missile fell on private residential buildings in the Kyiv region’s Brovary district.
The statement further said that three people, including a 13-year-old, were also seriously injured due to the incident.
Kyiv Governor Ruslan Kravchenko said in a statement on Telegram that the alarm sounded due to the air attack, which also involved drones, lasted for almost eight hours, expressing that there were no direct hits to residential and critical infrastructure in the region.
Kravchenko further said two private homes were destroyed in two different districts of the Kyiv region due to falling debris, adding that another six were damaged in the same two districts.
Meanwhile, Serhiy Popko, the head of the Kyiv City Military Administration, said on Telegram that the overnight strikes were the second such attack on the country's capital since the beginning of the month.
Popko further said that several dozens of drones were already launched in Ukraine, with some trying to attack Kyiv after conducting "complex maneuvers."
"All enemy attack drones were shot down in the airspace of the capital of Ukraine by the forces and means of air defense," he went on to say.
Mykola Oleshchuk, the commander of Ukraine's Air Force, said in a later statement on Telegram that his country's air defenses downed 53 out of 57 drones launched by Russia over the Cherkasy, Kherson, Kirovohrad, Kyiv, Mykolaiv, Odesa, Rivne, Sumy, Vinnytsia, and Zaporizhzhia regions.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on X that Russia launched more than 30 missiles and over 800 guided bombs on his country over the past week.
"To truly stop Russian terror, we need not only a full-fledged air shield that can protect all our cities and communities, but also strong decisions from our partners ... When Ukraine’s long-range capabilities have no limits, this war will definitely have a limit—we will truly bring its just end closer," he said.
Russian authorities have not yet commented on the attack.