Ukrainian personnel use searchlights as they search for drones over the city during a Russian drone strike
Kiev, Ukraine:
Ukraine’s air force said today that Russia launched a total of 67 long-range Shahed drones in a massive nighttime attack, of which it was able to shoot down 58.
The air force said in a statement on messaging app Telegram that air defense units in 11 regions in Ukraine responded.
Drone debris was found next to the parliament building in the capital Kiev, the legislature said in a separate statement it posted on its official Telegram page, along with several photos.
It is rare for a Russian missile or drone to penetrate so far into central Kiev because the city is protected by a network of Soviet-era air defense systems and Western-donated air defense systems.
The government district on a hilltop in the city center is perhaps the best defended spot in Ukraine, as it is also home to the offices of the president, cabinet and central bank.
The photos on Telegram showed at least four pieces of rubble scattered on the ground near the parliament building. One piece lay at the foot of the stairs to the building’s main entrance, while another piece of metal appeared riddled with shrapnel.
Reuters correspondents in the Ukrainian capital Kiev heard a series of explosions shortly after 3 a.m. (0000 GMT) on Saturday, some of which resounded loudly around the city center, waking residents.
Since the invasion began in February 2022, Moscow has launched thousands of missiles and Shahed drones at Ukraine.
The Iranian-designed drone has been used by Russia since September 2022 as a cheap, more expendable alternative to missiles, which are expensive and more difficult to manufacture.
The propeller-driven Shahed flies at a speed of less than 200 km per hour (125 miles per hour), but can be difficult for conventional air defense systems to track because it flies low and emits much less heat than a missile.
Kyiv’s air force said the drones were launched from two border regions in Russia and from the Russian-occupied Crimean peninsula.
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