Russia unleashed the biggest drone attack against Kyiv of the war so far overnight as the city prepared to mark the annual celebration of its founding. However, according to Ukrainian military officials, almost all the Iranian-made aircraft were shot down.
The air force said it shot down 52 out of 54 Shahed drones launched against the city in successive waves, but falling debris still killed one man, injured two people, and set ablaze the roof of a shopping centre.
The attack appeared to come from the north and south and at low altitudes. A spokesperson from Operational Command South said the Russians appeared to be seeking ways of evading Ukraine’s steadily improving air defences.
“The enemy traditionally used the eastern coast of the Azov Sea to attack, but the routes of these aircraft were somewhat unconventional,” the spokesperson told reporters. “They tried to bypass southern air defences as much as possible … They mostly flew over the temporarily occupied territories and dispersed across Ukraine.
“They are trying to gravitate towards riverbeds to hide the direction of movement of the Shahed groups,” she added. “We continue to study new approaches in tactics to be as effective as possible.”
The drone attacks came in the early hours of Kyiv Day, the annual celebration of the city’s founding 1,541 years ago, marked by street fairs and live concerts.
“The history of Ukraine is a longstanding irritant for the insecure Russians,” Andriy Yermak, the head of Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s office, said on his Telegram channel.
Serhiy Popko, the head of the capital’s military administration, said on the Telegram messaging app: “Today, the enemy decided to ‘congratulate’ the people of Kyiv on Kyiv Day with the help of their deadly UAVs [unmanned aerial vehicles].
“The attack was carried out in several waves, and the air alert lasted more than five hours.”
In some parts of the city, local people, inured to Russian air raids, stood on their balconies, shouting slogans praising Ukrainian air defences and defying Vladimir Putin and Russia.
Military observers have suggested that another goal of the constant stream of Russian air attacks is to exhaust Ukrainian air defence ammunition using cheap Iranian drones. Ukrainian officials have told western capitals that a shortage of anti-aircraft missiles is one of their most pressing concerns, ahead of a planned spring counteroffensive against Russian occupying forces.
https://news.google.com/rss/articles/CBMib2h0dHBzOi8vd3d3LnRoZWd1YXJkaWFuLmNvbS93b3JsZC8yMDIzL21heS8yOC9reWl2LXJ1c3NpYW4tZHJvbmUtc3RyaWtlLWtpbGxzLW9uZS1pbi11a3JhaW5lLWNhcGl0YWwtc2F5cy1tYXlvctIBb2h0dHBzOi8vYW1wLnRoZWd1YXJkaWFuLmNvbS93b3JsZC8yMDIzL21heS8yOC9reWl2LXJ1c3NpYW4tZHJvbmUtc3RyaWtlLWtpbGxzLW9uZS1pbi11a3JhaW5lLWNhcGl0YWwtc2F5cy1tYXlvcg?oc=5
2023-05-28 11:53:42Z
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