Ukraine says it repelled one of Russia's largest drone attacks of war

[July 31, 2024]  By Anastasiia Malenko and Tom Balmforth
 
KYIV (Reuters) -Ukraine's air force said it repelled one of Russia's largest long-range drone attacks of the war overnight, shooting down all 89 drones launched at Kyiv, the surrounding region and other areas in the early hours of Wednesday.

Firefighters work at a site of a residential building damaged during a Russian drone strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv region, Ukraine July 31, 2024. Press service of the State Emergency Service of Ukraine/Handout via REUTERS

The attack, which came more than 29 months after Russia's full-scale invasion, primarily targeted Kyiv and the surrounding region where local authorities said more than 40 drones were shot down. An air raid alert remained in place most of the night.

The capital's military administration said no civilian or critical infrastructure took a direct hit, but debris damaged the roofs, windows and facades of 13 private residences in the region, according to authorities there.

"This is one of the most massive attacks by Shahed-131/136 strike drones," the air force said, naming the type of drone it says Russia has used in the thousands for strikes on Ukraine.

A military spy spokesman told Reuters last week that Russia had also started using new cheaply-produced drones, some of them fitted with cameras, to film the location of Ukraine's air defences and results of its strikes, with others acting as decoys.

Serhiy Popko, head of Kyiv's military administration, said the latest drone attack was the seventh conducted against the city in July.

Some 11,500 residents sheltered for safety in metro stations in the night as the drones came in several waves from "all possible directions," the city authorities said.

The air force also intercepted a Kh-59 missile fired at the southern region of Mykolaiv, it said. Local authorities had not reported any damage there as of Wednesday morning.

There was no immediate comment from Russia.

Kyiv and most of central and eastern Ukraine were under air raid alerts from 2000 GMT on Tuesday. Air defence systems were engaged on the approaches to Kyiv and the region outside the region several times in the night, Popko said.

Reuters reporters heard numerous blasts that sounded like air defence systems engaging targets.

(Reporting by Lidia Kelly in Melbourne, Pavel Polityuk; Writing by Anastasiia Malenko; Editing by Tom Balmforth and Conor Humphries)

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