KYIV: Russia launched nearly three dozen drones at Kyiv early on Sunday, with blasts ringing out across the Ukrainian capital and the surrounding region for around two hours and debris falling across several city districts, Ukrainian officials said.
The night sky was illuminated by explosions from air defences engaging targets and blasts were heard throughout the city. At least one plume of smoke was spotted rising from in between buildings.
Kyiv resident Liudmyla said she heard the buzzing of the Iranian-made drones before a blast wave shattered windows in her building and the jars on her windowsill. "It was a very frightening experience - I can't even put it into words."
The state emergency service reported that debris had fallen in three different districts, but there was no serious damage. Kyiv officials also said four people were wounded.
Regional Governor Ruslan Kravchenko wrote on Facebook that an unspecified infrastructure facility and eight houses had been damaged by the overnight strikes.
Ukraine's air force said the military destroyed 26 out of 33 drones launched by Russia, all of which targeted Kyiv and the region around it.
There was no immediate comment from Russia about the attacks. Moscow has conducted regular air strikes on Ukrainian population centres far from the eastern and southern front lines.
A Russian attack killed 17 people on Wednesday in the eastern city of Kostiantynivka, Ukrainian officials said.
Meanwhile, Russia will return to the Black Sea grain deal 'the same day' as Moscow's conditions for export of its own grain and fertilisers to the global markets are met, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told reporters on Sunday.
"When all the necessary actions for removing obstacles for our grain and fertiliser exports are implemented, the same day we will return to the collective implementation of the Ukrainian part of the 'Black Sea initiative'", Lavrov told a briefing after attending a two-day G20 summit in New Delhi.
Ukraine opposes the idea of easing sanctions on Russia in order to revive a grain deal. Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Sunday he was not 'hopeless' about reviving the deal, and Russia, Ukraine and Türkiye would continue to discuss it.
UN told Russia a unit of Russian Agricultural Bank in Luxembourg could immediately apply to SWIFT to "effectively enable access" for the bank to the SWIFT international payments system within 30 days. — Reuters
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