Russia launched a “comprehensive air attack” against Kyiv overnight, the third such strike against Ukraine’s capital in four days.
Air raid sirens sounded around 2:20 a.m. followed shortly after by a huge explosion as air defenses intercepted a kamikaze drone.
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The blast was large enough to set off car alarms in the city center, Kyiv Post correspondents report. The all clear was not given until 6 a.m. No casualties have been reported at this time.
Russia launched a total of 24 drones against Ukraine, 18 of which were shot down, Ukraine's air force said on Thursday. All those aimed at Kyiv were intercepted.
Head of the Kyiv City Military Administration Serhiy Popko, said in a post on Telegram: “Another air attack on Kyiv. It is already the third attack on the capital over four days of May.
“Our city has not suffered such a dense intensity of strikes since the beginning of this year. Last night, the aggressor again launched a comprehensive air attack on the capital.
“The Russians attacked Kyiv with the use of loitering munition of the Shahed type and missiles, presumably of the ballistic type. I will never get tired of thanking the air defense forces of Kyiv.”
Elsewhere, the Black Sea port city of Odesa was attacked by 15 kamikaze drones, 12 of which were shot down, according to military authorities. Three drones struck a university compound but there were no casualties.
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Explosions were also reported in Zaporizhzhia.
The attacks came a day after Russia accused Ukraine of attacking the Kremlin with drones in what it described as an assassination attempt on the life of President Vladimir Putin.
“Last night, the Kyiv regime attempted to strike the Kremlin residence of the President of the Russian Federation with unmanned aerial vehicles,” Putin’s press service declared on May 3.
“We regard these actions as a planned terrorist act and an attempt on the life of the President of the Russian Federation.”
Ukraine has denied involvement in the attack. President Zelensky on Wednesday evening said: “We didn’t attack Putin... We fight on our territory, we are defending our villages and cities.”
He explained to reporters at a press conference with Nordic leaders in Helsinki: “We don’t attack Putin or Moscow. We don’t have enough weapons for this.”
Shortly after news of the attack broke, a high-ranking Russian official demanded “the use of weapons capable of stopping and destroying the Kyiv terrorist regime.”
Vyacheslav Volodin, the speaker of the Russian Duma and Putin ally, added.
“No negotiations can take place with the Zelensky regime of.”
Russia’s ex-president Dmitry Medvedev later called for the “physical elimination” of Zelensky.
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