Russia launches New Year drone strike on Kyiv, officials say

Russia has carried out regular air strikes on Ukrainian towns and cities far behind the front line of its nearly three-year-old invasion.

Russia launched a drone strike on the Ukrainian capital Kyiv early on Wednesday, wounding at least six people and damaging buildings in two districts, city officials said.

Explosions boomed across the morning sky as Ukraine’s air force warned of drones approaching the city and Mayor Vitali Klitschko said air defences were repelling an enemy attack.

Two floors of a residential building were partially destroyed in the strike, Klitschko said. Photos posted by the State Emergency Service showed firefighters dousing a gutted corner of a building and helping elderly victims.

Debris from downed drones also damaged a non-residential building in another neighbourhood, Klitschko added.

”This is yet another reminder to the world that Russian aggression knows no holidays or days off,” Yulia Svyrydenko, Ukraine’s first deputy prime minister, wrote on X shortly after the morning attack.

Kyiv’s military said it had shot down 63 out of 111 drones launched by Russia overnight across various regions of Ukraine. Another 46 had been downed by electronic jamming, it added.

Russia has carried out regular air strikes on Ukrainian towns and cities far behind the front line of its nearly three-year-old invasion.