Ukraine air defences repel Russian drone attack as almost three dozen bombard Kyiv overnight – with debris hitting homes and huge explosions in the sky

• Kyiv Military Administration chief said debris sparked fire in residential building

Ukraine faced a barrage of attacks overnight from thirty-two Russian drones, military authorities said on Sunday, causing debris to fall over Kyiv city centre and sparking a fire in an apartment.

Pictures show huge explosions over the city as the unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) were downed, with Ukraine’s Land Forces saying that the country’s air defence systems managed to destroy 25 of the Iran-made Shahed drones.

Blasts rang out across the Ukrainian capital and its region for almost two hours, with residents forced to take shelter with as air raid sirens blared.

Kyiv Military Administration chief Serhiy Popko said debris had sparked a fire in a residential building, but that it had been successfully extinguished and resulted in no injuries.

Popko said of the Russian bombardment on Telegram: ‘Drones came onto the capital in groups and from different directions.’

Blasts rang out across the Ukrainian capital and its region for almost two hours, with residents forced to take shelter with as air raid sirens blared

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said that one person was injured in the historic Podil neighbourhood and a fire broke out near one of the city’s parks

Pictures show huge explosions over the city as the unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) were downed

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said that one person was injured in the historic Podil neighbourhood and a fire broke out near one of the city’s parks.

Debris from downed drones fell on the Darnytskyi, Solomianskyi, Shevchenkivskyi, Sviatoshynskyi and Podil districts, Klitschko and the city’s military administration said. 

In the Shevchenkivskyi district, drone debris sparked a fire in an apartment, which was extinguished swiftly.

There was no immediate comment from Russia about the attacks. Moscow has been conducting near-nightly assaults on Ukraine’s territory and drones have previously been used to strike Kyiv.

A Russian attack killed 17 on Wednesday in the eastern city of Kostiantynivka, according to Ukrainian officials.

And yesterday a missile strike on President Zelensky’s home town killed a policeman and injured at least 52 others.

Civilians were pulled out from the rubble of their destroyed homes as 10 buildings were damaged during the strike on Kryvyi Rih.

Meanwhile, Kyiv hit back in the early hours of this morning with its own drone strike on Russian territory.

Russian air defence forces destroyed a Ukraine-launched drone over the southwestern Bryansk region on the border with Ukraine, the defence ministry said.

A local resident Lyudmila, 65, shows the splinter that hit her apartment during a Russian drone strike on Kyiv

Shattered windows are seen near a building damaged during a Russian drone strike in Kyiv

The ministry’s statement on the Telegram messaging app did not immediately report any damage or casualties.

It comes as NATO member Romania this morning summoned the Russian charge d’affaires following the discovery of new fragments of a drone ‘similar to those used by the Russian army’ on Romanian soil.

Romanian soldiers found the fragments in the area of Plauru in Tulcea county across the border from Ukraine on Saturday.

They are the second lot of drone fragments to have crashed on its shores within a week.

State secretary Iulian Fota met the Russian diplomat the same day to transmit ‘Romania’s protest against the violation of the Romanian airspace,’ the foreign ministry said.

Emergency services extinguishing fires overnight amid a drone strike on Kyiv, during which a residential building caught on fire

Rescuers working at the site of a drone attack in Kyiv. There were no reported fatalities

Fota ‘firmly asked the Russian side to stop the actions against the Ukrainian population and infrastructure, including those that would threaten in any way the safety and security of the Romanian citizens in the region.’

Romanian President Klaus Iohannis and NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg said on Saturday that they discussed the discovery during a phone call.

Stoltenberg said on X, formerly Twitter, there was ‘no indication of intent to hit NATO, but the strikes are destabilising.’

He also welcomed the US decision to deploy more F-16 fighter jets for NATO air policing.

Bucharest repeatedly rejected Kyiv’s claims that Russian drones fell and detonated on Romanian territory during a strike on the Ukrainian port of Izmail on Sunday night. Picture shared by the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine

Iohannis said the discovery indicated that ‘an absolutely unacceptable breach of the Romanian sovereign airspace’ had taken place.

Romania has beefed up measures to strengthen monitoring and airspace security following repeated Russian attacks across the border on Danube ports and infrastructure.

Drone debris had already been found in the Plauru area earlier this week, some kilometres away from Saturday’s find, which is being analysed.

Wednesday’s revelation of the first discovery of possible drone debris came after Bucharest repeatedly rejected Kyiv’s claims that Russian drones fell and detonated on Romanian territory during a strike on the Ukrainian port of Izmail on Sunday night.

Since Russia’s all-out invasion of Ukraine last February, NATO has been focused on preventing the war from spilling over onto its territory.

Russia has ramped up attacks on Ukraine’s southern Odesa and Mykolaiv regions, home to ports and infrastructure vital for agriculture exports following the collapse of a deal allowing grain shipments from Black Sea ports.

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