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

Russia launched several waves of drone attacks targeting Kyiv early on Monday, with air defense units engaged in repelling the strikes for several hours, Ukraine’s military said.

Reuters’ witnesses heard numerous blasts in Kyiv in what sounded like air defense systems in operation and saw objects being hit in the air.

Kyiv, its surrounding region and all eastern part of Ukraine have been under air raid alerts since around 1 a.m. on Monday (2200 GMT on Sunday).

“Several enemy UAV (unmanned aerial vehicles) are over and near the capital,” Vitali Klitschko, Kyiv’s mayor said on the Telegram messaging app.

Ukraine’s air force said earlier on Telegram that several groups of Russian drone attacks were heading toward Kyiv and Ukraine’s west. It also said it detected the launch of several guided bombs from Russia-controlled parts of Ukraine at around 04:40 a.m. (0140 GMT).

There was no immediate comment from Moscow, which has launched multiple air attacks on Kyiv and Ukraine throughout September, targeting Ukraine’s energy, military and transport infrastructure in which dozens of civilians have died.

There were no immediate reports of damage or casualties as a result of the attacks.