Kiev, Sept 8: Russia attacked Ukraine with 805 drones and decoys overnight on Sunday, the largest such attack since the full-scale invasion.
Yuriy Ihnat, a spokesperson for Ukraine’s Air Force, confirmed to the Associated Press that Sunday’s attack was the largest Russian drone strike.
Russia also launched 13 missiles of various types.
Ukraine shot down and neutralised 747 drones and four missiles, according to a statement from the Air Force.
There were nine missile hits and 56 drone strikes in 37 locations across Ukraine. Debris from shot-down drones and missiles fell on 8 locations.
A mass Russian drone and missile attack on Ukraine’s capital Sunday killed at least two people and left smoke rising from the roof of a key government building.
Associated Press reporters saw a plume of smoke rising from the roof of Kyiv’s cabinet of ministers building, but it was not immediately clear if the smoke was the result of a direct hit, which would mark an escalation in Russia’s air campaign. Russia has so far avoided targeting government buildings in the city centre.
The building is the home of Ukraine’s Cabinet, housing the offices of its ministers. Police blocked access to the building as fire trucks and ambulances arrived.
Ukrainian officials said two people were killed and 15 injured in the attack.
Among the dead was a 1-year-old child, whose body was dug out of the rubble by rescuers, said Tymur Tkachenko, the head of Kyiv’s city administration.
Russian drone debris struck a nine-story residential building in Kyiv’s Sviatoshynskyi district and a four-storey residential building in Darnytskyi district, according to Mayor Vitallii Klitschko.
Sunday’s attack is the second mass Russian drone and missile attack to target Kyiv in the span of two weeks, as hopes for peace talks wane.