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Kyiv was rocked by three explosions earlier this morning in the first drone attack against the Ukrainian capital in weeks.
The sun had barely risen when blasts shuddered fear throughout the capital after air raid sirens had been blaring for around 30 minutes since 6am, officials said.
Interior minister Anton Gerashchenko tweeted that Kyiv had been pelted by two drone attacks.
Two government buildings and several homes in the surrounding area were damaged, he added.
No victims from the drone debris have been reported, Kyiv’s rescue services confirmed to Ukrainian news outlet Suspline.
The Ministry of Defence tweeted: ‘Another massive drone attack on Kyiv. It is obvious that the Russian military feels confident only when attacking peaceful cities.
Some homes were blackened by the strikes (Picture: Reuters)
Government and local officials say the city’s defence systems struck down more than a dozen drones (Picture: Reuters)
The explosions came after an air raid blared in the early morning (Picture: Reuters)
‘Today, the Ukrainian air defence took the terrorists down a peg by shooting down 13 out of 13 Shahed-136/131 drones.’
Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko said on Telegram that emergency services were dispatched to the central Shevchenkivskyi district, home to many government agencies and buildings.
‘More details later,’ he added.
Ukrainian MP Oleksiy Goncharenko tweeted: ‘At 6:30am, three explosions were already heard in Kyiv. Ukrainians wake up not from alarm clocks, but from explosions.
‘Thanks to neighbouring Russia! Good morning!’
Plumes of smoke were pictured by locals on social media rising out of buildings, while others captured the blackened residential buildings.
Emergency services say there have been no casualties (Picture: Reuters)
The British ambassador to Ukraine, Melinda Simmons, said when the explosion sounds ripped through Kyiv, she sat in a ‘windowless hallway repeating [Ukranian’ verbs of motion slowly’.
‘I hated learning them at the time,’ she said. ‘Who knew what a decompression exercise they could be.’
Russia has launched an onslaught of missile and drone attacks in recent weeks, with Kyiv calling on allies to provide it with more advanced ground-based air defence systems.
The US is poised to approve sending a Patriot missile battery – a sophisticated long-range defensive weapon – to Ukraine, officials told CNN.
What Moscow has been targeting is all too clear: energy infrastructure.
Power plans, heating systems and other energy infrastructures have been left charred by the attacks, leaving Ukrainians vulnerable to the bitter winter ahead.
Scraps of drones were spotted by shaken civilians (Picture: Reuters)
More than 1.5 million people were plunged into darkness over the weekend when Russian drone attacks struck the southern port city of Odesa.
The head of Kyiv region, Oleksiy Kuleba, wrote on Telegram today: ‘Russia continues the energy terror of the country.
‘But we are getting stronger every day.’
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‘Russia continues the energy terror of the country.’
