Central Kyiv hit by kamikaze drone strikes; heavy fighting rages in two hot spots in eastern Ukraine

The U.S. Embassy in Ukraine has condemned a series of kamikaze drone attacks on Kyiv this morning.

At least four drone attacks were recorded in the city this morning, with 18 people rescued from a residential building that had been hit.

Kyiv’s Mayor Vitali Klitschko said later this morning that the body of a dead woman was recovered from the rubble of a house in Shevchenkivskyi district, where an explosion occurred earlier this morning as a result of a drone attack.  

“Another person is under the rubble.  Search and rescue operations are ongoing.  Three victims were hospitalized,” he said on Telegram.

Ukraine has destroyed 37 Russian drones since Sunday evening, around 85-86% of the number involved in attacks, Ukraine’s air force spokesperson Yuriy Ihnat said on Monday.

“That’s quite a good result for the work of our air defences and that number will rise in the future,” he told a news briefing, adding that all the drones had flown into Ukraine from the south.

— Reuters

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has issued a statement amid a wave of drone attacks on the capital Kyiv.

“All night and all morning, the enemy terrorizes the civilian population,” Zelenskyy said on Telegram Monday. “Kamikaze drones and missiles are attacking all of Ukraine,” he added.

“A residential building was hit in Kyiv. The enemy can attack our cities, but it won’t be able to break us.  The occupiers will get only fair punishment and condemnation of future generations. And we will get victory,” he added.

Kyiv’s Mayor Vitali Klischko said 18 people have been rescued from a residential building struck by a drone.  “According to preliminary information, two residents remain under the rubble.  Rescue operations are ongoing.  Extinguishing of fire in destroyed building structures and demolition of rubble is ongoing. We are clarifying the information on casualties,” he said on Telegram.

— Holly Ellyatt

Drone attacks on the Ukrainian capital Kyiv are ongoing, according to officials in the city. Air raid alerts are in place, with residents being told to shelter.

The Kyiv city military administration said on Telegram this morning that “the enemy continues to attack. A residential building in the Shevchenkiv district was hit. Currently, information about the victims is being clarified. Please stay in shelters!”

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko reported further explosions on Monday and posted an image purportedly showing the remnants of an explosive-carrying drone.

One Kyiv resident told the BBC this morning that she and her husband were sheltering in their building as drone attacks appeared to be taking place every 15 minutes.

“The last two hours we can hear explosions and the noise of the drones flying over our building almost constantly. Believe me, once you’ve heard a rocket flying over your building, or a drone, you can tell and feel the difference. The drones fly lower than rockets,” resident Ksenia said, saying rockets make a whistling sound while drones sounded like a “very huge 200 kilogram motorcyle flying over your building, it’s really freaking scary.”

Explosive-carrying drones can fly low, tend to be sent in waves or “swarms” to attack, and are harder to track on radar or to counter by air defenses. One image on Getty today showed police trying to shoot down the drones.

Ukraine has said repeatedly that Russia is using Iranian-supplied Shahed-136 drones. Iran has denied supplying such weapons despite evidence to the contrary.

— Holly Ellyatt

Dramatic images of drone attacks on the Ukrainian capital Kyiv are being published by Getty Images, showing a so-called “kamikaze” drone targeting a location in the city .

Other images showed city officials trying to shoot down the explosive-carrying weapons.

Other images showed an explosion in the city this morning and first responders arriving at the scene of another blast.

— Holly Ellyatt

Heavy fighting is taking place in the eastern region of Donbas in Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Sunday, with Ukraine’s military stating that Russian forces were on the offensive around Bakhmut.

“The key hot spots in Donbas are Soledar and Bakhmut,” Zelenskyy said in his nightly video address. “Very heavy fighting is going on there.”

Bakhmut is a key target for Russia’s forces who are seeking to make and cement territorial gains in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions that make up the Donbas, particularly after having to retreat from other settlements to the north, around Kharkiv. Bakhmut is strategically important and sits on a main road leading to the cities of Sloviansk and Kramatorsk.

Zelenskyy said while the situation on the front line has not changed significantly over the last day, the fighting in Bakhmut and Soledar — which lies just north of Bakhmut — was intense, with Russian forces throwing “everyone they could against our forces,” including criminals and mercenaries, he said.

In its latest military update, the General Staff of Ukraine’s armed forces said on Twitter Monday that “the enemy is trying to go on the offensive in Bakhmut and Avdiivka directions.” Avdiivka lies just to the north of Donetsk city.

“The opponent is trying to hold the temporarily occupied territories, focusing efforts on attempts to contain the Defense Forces actions in individual directions, while trying to lead offensive actions in Bakhmut and Avdiiv directions,” the update on Facebook said.

“The enemy shells the Ukrainian positions along the entire contact line, reinforces its defensive positions and lines in certain directions, conducts aerial reconnaissance, hits critical infrastructure and civilian houses, violating the norms of international humanitarian law, the laws and customs of war,” it added.

Last Friday, Britain’s Ministry of Defense noted that Russian-backed forces had made tactical advances over several days toward the center of Bakhmut. Private military company Wagner Group “likely remains” heavily involved in the Bakhmut fighting, the ministry said in an intelligence update.

— Holly Ellyatt

Residential buildings in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv have been damaged after drone attacks on a central district, according to the city’s Mayor Vitali Klitschko and a senior government official.

“As a result of the drone attack, a fire broke out in a non-residential building in the Shevchenkivskyi district of Kyiv. Fire departments are working. Several residential buildings were damaged,” Klitschko said on Telegram.

He said medics are on the ground and that more details on the number of casualties is being clarified.

The head of the Ukraine president’s office, Andrii Yermak, also reported “explosions in Kyiv,” posting on Telegram that “the capital was attacked by kamikaze-drones,” a name given to explosive-carrying drones that Ukraine says Russia received from Iran.

“Russians think that it will help them, but such actions are like agony. We need more air defense systems and as soon as possible. We have no time for slow actions,” he said. CNBC was not able to independently verify the claims.

Russia has stepped up its use of drone attacks on various targets in Ukraine, particularly of energy infrastructure, largely in response to Ukraine’s counteroffensives and following an attack on the Kerch Strait bridge linking Russia and Crimea, the Ukrainian peninsula annexed by Moscow in 2014.

— Holly Ellyatt