A missile targeted Kyiv on Saturday without causing casualties but ending nearly two months of relative calm in the Ukrainian capital, while frontline regions fended off waves of drone attacks overnight.
Ukrainian officials also hailed the anniversary of the recapture of Kherson city, the regional capital liberated a year ago in the last major frontline shift.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky praised Kherson as a “city of hope” while regretting “revenge” daily shelling by Russia.
“Just between yesterday evening and this morning, (Russia launched) almost 40 drones and rockets… Ballistic attacks against Kyiv, drones, and rockets against Odesa, the Kharkiv region,” he said.
Ukraine has been bracing for a renewed aerial onslaught this winter, after systematic strikes on the country’s energy grid left thousands without heating or electricity in freezing temperatures last winter.
A missile targeted Kyiv “after a long pause of 52 days,” said the head of the Kyiv city military administration Sergiy Popko.
AFP journalists in central Kyiv had heard two strong explosions and saw trails in the sky at dawn.
Air sirens had sounded soon after that.
The air force said it destroyed a missile approaching Kyiv — either an Iskander ballistic missile or an S-400 anti-aircraft missile — without reporting casualties.
Air defences last downed a missile in Kyiv on September 21. The falling debris wounded seven people, including a child.
