Russia carried out what Ukrainian officials called a “massive attack” early Tuesday, May 30, targeting Kyiv with more than 20 drones that Ukraine’s air defenses destroyed.
Serhiy Popko, the head of Kyiv’s military administration, said on Telegram that after days of Russian aerial attacks that used a combination of drones and missiles, Russia had relied solely on the Iranian-made Shahed drones for its 17th assault on the Ukrainian capital in the month of May.
Ukraine has cited repeated success in downing most of what Russia launches at Kyiv, but often pieces of debris from downed missiles and drones end up hitting buildings on the ground.
Popko said debris from Tuesday’s attack hit an apartment building and sparked a fire, killing at least one person and injuring three others.
Additional debris damaged cars and a house in other parts of the city, he added.
Russian forces have subjected Kyiv to an intensified campaign of attack ahead of an expected Ukrainian counteroffensive that Kyiv leaders have said will seek to reclaim territory Russia seized in eastern Ukraine since it launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022.
“Each such terrorist attack brings us and the whole world to an obvious conclusion: Russia wants to follow the path of evil to the end, that is, to its defeat, because evil cannot have any other end but defeat,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in his nightly address Monday. “The world must see that terror is losing.”
Moscow attack
The mayor of Russia’s capital said drones caused minor damage to several buildings, but no serious injuries, during an attack Tuesday on Moscow.
Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said in a statement the attack happened at dawn and that residents were evacuated from two buildings.
Russia shot down two drones over the Kremlin in early May in what it said was a Ukrainian attack. – gb
