Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said debris from downed Shahed drones rained onto five districts between 2 a.m. and 4 a.m. local time, igniting cars, damaging a schoolyard and rattling residents with heavy machine-gun fire from air defense crews, the Reuters news agency reported.
Authorities urged people to stay in shelters and keep windows shut as dawn revealed pillars of black smoke over the city. No casualties were immediately reported in the capital.
Russian drones hit maternity hospital in Odesa
In Odesa, regional governor Oleh Kiper said Russian drones hit the maternity wing of a city hospital, but patients and staff were evacuated in time, according to Reuters.
“One person was killed and at least four were wounded in the night’s attacks,” Kiper wrote on the Telegram messaging service, adding that an emergency medical station was destroyed and several residential buildings were damaged.
Burned-out ambulances lay amid rubble after firefighters contained the blaze.
Ukraine’s air force said it had shot down 24 of 32 incoming drones and cruise missiles, without specifying how many reached their targets.
Klitschko said fragments fell in the Shevchenkivskyi, Obolonskyi, Podilskyi, Darnytskyi and Dniprovskyi districts.
"Stay in shelters—the massive attack on the capital is ongoing," he wrote.
'Russia only understands force'
Presidential chief of staff Andriy Yermak called the strikes further proof that "Russia only understands force, not rational words."
He urged Western allies to tighten sanctions and speed up weapons deliveries. "Russia lies every day about wanting peace — and every day it targets civilians," he said.
"Terror will not break the Ukrainian people," Yermak vowed.
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Source: Reuters, PAP, Polskie Radio 24, Kyiv Post