28 Russian Drones Attack Kyiv, Kill One Person – Mayor Klitschko

At least three people have been killed and three people hospitalised after a series of kamikaze drone attacks on Ukraine’s capital Kyiv.

Vitali Klitschko, Mayor of Kyiv, said on the Telegram messaging service; “In the morning, 28 drones flew in the direction of Kyiv. Thanks to our armed forces and air defence, most of the flying terrorists were shot down.

Mayor Vitali Klitschko said a dead woman was recovered from the rubble of a house in Shevchenkiv district, where an explosion occurred as a result of a drone attack.

“A total of five explosions were heard in Kyiv. One of them is in a residential building in the Shevchenkiv district. Rescuers continue extinguishing the building’s structures and work on dismantling the debris.

“Earlier, 18 residents of the building were rescued. Two were under the rubble. A dead woman’s body was recently recovered. According to preliminary data, one more person is under the rubble. Search and rescue operations are ongoing.”

With a video report of the scenes in Kyiv going viral early in the morning, Klitschko had earlier said three people had been hospitalised.

Also, Ukraine’s prime minister, Denys Shmyhal said; “Today, Russia again attacked civilian and energy facilities in Ukraine.

“An apartment building in Kyiv is among the terrorists’ targets. People are injured. The world’s response to these crimes must be clear: more support for Ukraine and more sanctions against the aggressor.”

Similarly, Ukrainian presidential adviser, Mykhailo Podolyak said after the new wave of drone attacks that Russia should be expelled from the G20 group.

Meanwhile, Iran said again on Monday that it had not provided Russia with drones to use in Ukraine.

“The published news about Iran providing Russia with drones has political ambitions and it is circulated by western sources. We have not provided weaponry to any side of the countries at war”, Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Nasser Kanaani said.

In a related development, European Union (EU)’s Foreign Policy Chief Josep Borrell said the bloc “will look for concrete evidence” about the participation of Iran in Russia’s war on Ukraine.

Amid official denials that Iran has supplied drones to Russia, the EU Foreign Ministers will examine reports that Iranian drones are being used to attack Ukraine.

Speaking shortly after Kyiv was hit by a series of Russian kamikaze drone attacks on Monday morning which have left at least one person dead, Borrell said the EU will react appropriately if any evidence is found against Iran.

A senior Ukrainian presidential adviser, Anton Gerashchenko, said on Monday that Kyiv had been hit by “Iranian drones”, adding that some had been taken down by Ukraine’s air defences.

Though Iran repeated its denials that it was supplying any weapons to the conflict, the EU foreign ministers sounded unconvinced by Iran’s protestations with Denmark’s Foreign Minister Jeppe Kofod, saying; “What we can see now: Iranian drones are used apparently to attack in the middle of Kyiv, this is an atrocity, something we need to address.”

Luxembourg’s foreign minister Jean Asselborn also suggested Tehran could face further EU sanctions if the allegations were proven, adding; “Then it will be no longer about some individuals being sanctioned”.

The EU’s 27 foreign ministers are expected later on Monday to approve sanctions against Iranian officials involved in the brutal crackdown of peaceful protesters, following the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, who was arrested by Iran’s “morality police”. More than 100 people have been killed, in Iran’s biggest protests in years, since Amini died on 16 September. – With The Guardian reports