In the latest barrage on war-torn Ukraine, Russia fired 40 drones towards the capital Kyiv on the intervening night of Sunday and Monday.
Russia fired missiles and drones into Ukraine on the New Year's Eve and the New Year Day, leading to dozens of casualties and damaging civilian and critical infrastructure. Three civilians were killed on the New Year's Eve.
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said on Monday that 40 exploding drones “headed for Kyiv” overnight. All of them were destroyed, according to air defence forces. He said 22 drones were destroyed over Kyiv, three in the outlying Kyiv region, and 15 over neighbouring provinces.
Energy infrastructure facilities were damaged as the result of the attack and an explosion occurred in one city district, said Klitschko.
It wasn't immediately clear whether that was caused by drones or other munitions. A wounded 19-year-old man was hospitalised, Klitschko added, and emergency power outages were underway in the capital.
In the outlying Kyiv region a “critical infrastructure object” and residential buildings were hit, Gov. Oleksiy Kuleba said.
Russia has carried out airstrikes on Ukrainian power and water supplies almost weekly since October.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has accused Russia of “energy terrorism” as the aerial bombardments have left many people without heat amid freezing temperatures. Ukrainian officials say Moscow is “weaponising winter” in its effort to demoralise the Ukrainian resistance.
Ukraine is using sophisticated Western-supplied weapons to help shoot down Russia's missiles and drones, as well as send artillery fire into Russian-held areas of the country.
Five people were wounded in the Monday morning shelling of a Ukraine-controlled area of the southern Kherson region, its Ukrainian Gov. Yaroslav Yanushevich said on Telegram.
The Russian forces attacked the city of Beryslav, the official said, firing at a local market, likely from a tank. Three of the wounded are in serious condition and are being evacuated to Kherson, Yanushevich said.
Seven drones were shot down over the southern Mykolaiv region, according to Gov. Vitali Kim, and three more were shot down in the southeastern Dnipropetrovsk region, Gov. Valentyn Reznichenko said.
In the Dnipropetrovsk region, a missile was also destroyed, according to Reznichenko. He said that energy infrastructure in the region was being targeted.
Ukraine's Air Force Command reported Monday that 39 Iranian-made exploding Shahed drones were shot down overnight, as well as two Russian-made Orlan drones and a X-59 missile.
“We are staying strong,” the Ukrainian defense ministry tweeted.
A blistering New Year's Eve assault killed at least four civilians across the country, Ukrainian authorities reported, and wounded dozens.
The fourth victim, a 46-year-old resident of Kyiv, died in a hospital on Monday morning, Klitschko said.
Multiple blasts rocked the capital and other areas of Ukraine on Saturday and through the night.
The strikes came 36 hours after widespread missile attacks Russia launched Thursday to damage energy infrastructure facilities, and the unusually quick follow-up alarmed Ukrainian officials.
In Russia, a Ukrainian drone hit an energy facility in the Bryansk region that borders with Ukraine, Bryansk regional governor Alexander Bogomaz reported on Monday morning.
A village was left without power as a result, he said.
(With AP inputs)
