Russia launches waves of drone attacks on Kyiv, Ukraine's military says

By Gleb Garanich and Pavel Polityuk

KYIV (Reuters) -Russia launched several waves of drones targeting Kyiv early on Monday, with air defence units successfully defending the city during the attack which lasted over five hours, Ukraine's military said.

Reuters' witnesses heard numerous blasts in the Ukrainian capital in what sounded like air defence systems in operation and saw objects being hit in the air.

All the drones that Russia launched at Kyiv were either destroyed by defence systems or neutralised by electronic warfare, Serhiy Popko, the head of Kyiv's military administration said on the Telegram messaging app.

According to preliminary information, there were no casualties and no damage reported, he added. Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko said drone debris fell by a residential building with emergency services working on site.

The Ukrainian air force said on Monday that it shot down 67 out of 73 drones and one of three missiles launched by Russia during the attack.

Governor Ruslan Kravchenko reported no damage to critical or residential infrastructure in the region surrounding the capital. He said that the attack caused fires in five districts of the region, but there were no casualties.

Mykolaiv governor Vitaliy Kim said the attack caused a fire at a critical infrastructure facility in the southern region.

Russia has launched multiple air attacks on Kyiv and Ukraine throughout September, targeting Ukraine's energy, military and transport infrastructure in attacks which have killed dozens of civilians.

Russia denies targeting civilians in the full-scale invasion it called a "special operation" when it was launched in February 2022.

(Reporting by Gleb Garanich, Valentyn Ogirenko, Pavel Polityuk, Sergiy Karazy and Anastasiia Malenko in Kyiv; Writing by Lidia Kelly in Melbourne; Editing by Lincoln Feast and Ros Russell)