Russia launches its largest drone attack on Ukraine since start of invasion

Ukraine mentioned on Saturday it had downed 74 out of 75 drones Russia launched at it in a single day, in what it mentioned was the largest such assault for the reason that begin of the invasion.

The Ukrainian military mentioned Russia had launched a “report quantity” of Iranian-made Shahed drones, the vast majority of which focused Kyiv, inflicting energy cuts as temperatures dipped under freezing.

The drone assault got here as Ukraine marked Holodomor Remembrance Day, commemorating the Nineteen Thirties hunger of thousands and thousands in Ukraine beneath Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin.

“The enemy launched a report variety of assault drones at Ukraine! The principle path of the assault is Kyiv,” mentioned the commander of Ukraine’s air power, Basic Mykola Oleshchuk.

The air power mentioned it had downed “74 out of 75” Shahed drones.

Kyiv authorities mentioned 5 folks — together with an 11-year-old — had been wounded within the capital, the place the air raid lasted six hours.

Falling drone particles had sparked fires and broken buildings throughout town, Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko mentioned.

AFP noticed Kyiv residents clearing smashed home windows and different harm within the metropolis’s Dniprovsky district, with ambulances parked close by.

One of many buildings that was broken housed a nursery and one other had a part of its prime ground destroyed.

Native resident Viktor Vasylenko mentioned he had soothed his younger daughter, who skilled “panic and nausea” in the course of the lengthy night-time assaults as they sheltered in a hall.

The 38-year-old mentioned his household at all times has “the whole lot ready” in case of such assaults, however this was the primary time one had hit so shut.

“My spouse thought that the home would collapse in half,” he mentioned.

Latvia’s president, Edgars Rinkevics, on a go to to Kyiv in the course of the assault, posted a photograph of himself on social media inside a darkish bomb shelter.

In a press release, the French international ministry condemned the drone barrage “with the utmost firmness.”

Greater than 21 months into Moscow’s offensive, preventing is most intense within the east of Ukraine and is now centered across the metropolis of Avdiivka, which is almost encircled by Russian forces. 

Ukraine’s military mentioned that whereas the “primary goal” of the assault was Kyiv, air defenses had additionally been referred to as into motion throughout the south.

Kyiv mentioned it was “symbolic” that the capital had been the topic of such a large-scale assault on the day Ukraine marks Holodomor.

“Greater than 70 Shahed on the evening of the Holodomor Remembrance Day … The Russian management is pleased with the truth that it might kill,” President Volodymyr Zelensky mentioned on social media. 

Zelensky attended a ceremony with Kyiv’s prime army brass, holding candles, to mark the occasion.

“We mark the solemn anniversary of the Holodomor because the courageous folks of Ukraine proceed to defend their freedom and Ukraine’s sovereignty towards Russia’s brutal warfare of aggression,” President Biden mentioned in a press release.

Ukraine says Holodomor — Ukrainian for “loss of life by hunger” — was prompted intentionally by Soviet agricultural insurance policies.

Moscow denies this, and says it was a part of a wider famine that additionally affected Russian components of the Soviet Union.

Zelensky mentioned it was “inconceivable” for Kyiv to forgive or neglect the “horrific crimes of genocide,” and thanked the rising variety of international locations that had acknowledged Holodomor as a deliberate crime towards Ukraine.

“They tried to subjugate us, to kill us, to exterminate us,” Zelensky mentioned. “They failed.”

Switzerland’s President Alain Berset was in Kyiv Saturday and paid homage to the victims of Holodomor that he mentioned was “provoked by Soviet leaders”.

The pair mentioned “humanitarian demining, using frozen earnings from the belongings of the aggressor nation and the peace components,” based on Zelensky. 

Switzerland’s well-known custom of neutrality has been examined since Russia invaded Ukraine. The Alpine nation has adopted the EU’s lead on sanctions on Moscow, however has refused to permit international locations that maintain Swiss-made weapons to ship them to Kyiv.

Kyiv has arrange a brand new hall within the Black Sea since Moscow pulled out of the United Nations-brokered grain deal in July, but it surely continues to function beneath threat.

“We have now already gathered greater than $100 million (by the Kyiv-installed hall),” Zelensky mentioned.

Drones have been extensively used within the battle, with Ukraine additionally launching drones into Russia and annexed Crimea. 

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