Explosions in Kyiv as Ukraine air force battles drone attack

Officials said explosions sounded out in Kyiv Tuesday as Ukraine’s air force repelled a drone attack on the capital, with air warnings in effect in several other cities. About an hour after the region’s military administration announced unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) or drones had been discovered in the city’s airspace, Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko reported explosions in the capital. “UAV debris is burning in an open area in Desnyansky district,” he said, adding that emergency services were on site. As of 3:30 a.m. (0130 GMT), there were air alarms in Kyiv, Chernigiv, Cherkasy, Mykolayiv, and Kherson. The mayor of Mykolayiv stated the air force had downed drones in the city, causing trash to catch fire. Ukraine’s air force also reported early Tuesday that nine Russian Tupolev Tu-95MS strategic bombers had flown out from a distant northern location. “Preliminarily, 9 Tu-95MS strategic bombers from the “Olenya” airfield (Murmansk region) are flying in the southeast direction,” the air force said. The air force had also reported the take off of Tupolev Tu-95s, which date back to the Soviet era, on December 29. On that day, Russia launched a wave of strikes across Ukrainian cities, including the capital, which killed 39 people. Tuesday’s drone attacks come a day after Russian President Vladimir Putin said that his forces would intensify strikes on military targets in Ukraine, after an unprecedented Ukrainian attack over the weekend on the Russian city of Belgorod. That attack, on Saturday, killed 25 people including five children. Moscow also hit Ukrainian cities on New Year’s Eve, with Kyiv saying it had foiled a “record” number of drones launched by Russia.