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Explosion heard in Kyiv, reports of Russian kamikaze drone targeting capital

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Explosion heard in Kyiv, reports of Russian kamikaze drone targeting capital
The Kyiv skyline over the Dnipro River on Sept. 5, 2020. Photo for illustrative purposes. (Pavlo Gonchar/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)

Editor's note: This is a developing story and is being updated.

A large explosion was heard in Kyiv on the evening of July 17, with preliminary reports suggesting a Russian Shahed drone targeted the capital.

In a post on Telegram, Mayor Vitali Klitschko initially said as a result of the attack, a fire had broken out in between a "residential building and an educational institution" in the Darnytskyi District, in the southeast of Kyiv.

He did not say if the fire was caused by a direct hit or debris from an interception by air defenses.

But in a later post, Klitschko said emergency services called to the scene did not find a fire, but did say they were responding to "the downing of an enemy UAV."

Air raid sirens sounded across the capital at 22:13 p.m. Kyiv Independent reporters across the city heard a single large explosion at 22:58 p.m.

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Chris York

News Operations Editor

Chris York is news operations editor at the Kyiv Independent. Before joining the team, he was head of news at the Kyiv Post. Previously, back in Britain, he spent nearly a decade working for HuffPost UK. He holds an MA in Conflict, Development, and Security from the University of Leeds.

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