The largest drone attack on Kyiv: five injured
Ukraine’s capital suffered the worst Russian drone attack of the war on Saturday, officials said, leaving five people wounded and the sound of air defenses and explosions waking residents at dawn.
The attack began on various areas of Kyiv early on Saturday morning, and the waves surged even more as the sun rose. The air raid warning lasted six hours.
“71 out of 75 drones were shot down,” – Ukrainian Air Force
The Ukrainian Air Force initially said 71 of 75 drones had been shot down, but later increased the number of downed drones to 74. The Air Force commander said on television that 66 of them were shot down over Kiev and the surrounding region.
Kyiv suffered what officials said was Russia’s largest drone attack of the war, leaving five people wounded as the rumble of air defenses and explosions woke residents at sunrise https://t.co/it31C2Y9By pic.twitter.com/NvLAHxNPsg
— Reuters (@Reuters) November 25, 2023
The head of the Air Force, Nikolai Oleschuk, praised the effectiveness of “mobile fire” units – fast pickup trucks with a machine gun or anti-aircraft gun mounted on their platform. According to him, they shot down almost 40% of the drones.
Mayor Vitaliy Klitschko said in a Telegram message that the attack injured five people, including an 11-year-old girl, and damaged buildings in all areas of the city.
According to him, fragments of the downed drone caused a fire in the kindergarten.
Fragments of a downed drone caused a fire in a kindergarten
President Volodymyr Zelensky noted that the attack occurred early in the morning, as Ukrainians remember their worst national tragedy, the Holodomor of 1932-33, which left several million people dead of starvation.
Більше 70 «шахедів» у ніч на день памʼяті жертв Голодомору-геноциду. Свідомий терор. Саме в цей час. Керівництво Росії гордиться тим, що може вбивати.
Наші воїни збили більшість дронів. На жаль, не всі. Але працюємо далі, щоб посилити нашу ППО та збивати більше. І працюємо далі,…
— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) November 25, 2023
It is worth noting that Russia is modernizing the Shaheds (Gerani) with carbon fiber and painting them black to make them more difficult to detect, said Ignat, spokesman for the Air Force Command.
“They have previously improved the UAVs they received from Iran, and those they make themselves, using composite materials for the reflective surface. Now we see that we used carbon material. Carbon, which is an absorbent material for radar signals, and black color – it’s clear why. This will complicate the work of air defense, namely visual reference to the target of mobile fire groups,” he explained.
Source – https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/mass-drone-attack-kyiv-mayor-says-two-injured-2023-11-25/
