Air raid sirens in Kyiv as Russia launches fresh drone attacks

Ukrainian officials say at least one wounded in ‘waves of Russian drone attacks’ on Kyiv’s critical infrastructure.

Air raid sirens have blared across the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, as Russia kept pounding the city for a second night in a row.

The drone attacks early on Monday targeted critical infrastructure in Kyiv and the surrounding region, according to Ukrainian officials, and have wounded at least one person.

“It is loud in the region and in the capital: night drone attacks,” said Oleksiy Kuleba, the governor of the Kyiv region.

“Russians launched several waves of [Iranian-made] Shahed drones. Targeting critical infrastructure facilities,” he wrote on the Telegram messaging application.

“Our air defence forces are working on the targets,” he added. “The main thing now is to stay calm and stay in shelters until the alarm is off.”

The attacks followed a barrage of Russian missiles and drones that hit Kyiv and other cities on New Year’s Eve and early on New Year’s Day. At least three people were killed in the attacks in Kyiv and other cities on Saturday, while another person died in an attack in the southern region of Zaporizhia.

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said at least one person was wounded in Monday’s assault after debris from a destroyed drone damaged a building in the city’s northeastern Desniansky district. The victim was a 19-year-old man, he said on Telegram.

The district, located on the left bank of the Dnieper River, is chiefly a residential area and the capital’s most populous sector.

Al Jazeera was not able to independently verify the information.

By 3am local time on Monday (01:00 GMT), Ukraine’s air defence systems destroyed 16 air objects above Kyiv, the city’s military administration said. Air raid sirens had been wailing by that time for more than three hours.

Ukraine’s regional military command in the country’s east said air defence systems destroyed nine Iranian-made Shahed drones over the Dnipropetrovsk and Zaporizhia regions by the early hours of Monday.