(Updated: )
Editor's note: This is a developing story and is being updated.
Multiple people were injured as multiple waves of explosions rocked Kyiv overnight on May 24 during a massive Russian drone and missile attack against the Ukrainian capital.
At least 15 civilians required medical attention due to the attack, including those who suffered shock but no physical injuries, according to the officials. The full extent of casualties is being determined.
One person was injured and five cars were damaged in the Holosiivskyi district after drone wreckage fell in multiple locations, said Tymur Tkachenko, head of the Kyiv city military administration.
A five-story building in the Solomianskyi district caught fire, and seven people required medical attention, Tkachenko said. Two people were injured in the Dniprovskyi district, Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko reported.
In Kyiv’s Obolonskyi district, a fire broke out on the balconies of a nine-story residential building, affecting the third through sixth floors, local authorities reported. Five people required medical attention, of whom at least four suffered shock but no physical injuries. A shopping center was also damaged in the Obolonskyi district.
Ukrainian air defenses shot down six Iskander-M or KN-23 ballistic missiles launched against Kyiv, the Air Force said.
Overall, Russian forces launched 14 Iskander-M or KN-23 ballistic missiles against Ukraine overnight, as well as 250 Shahed-type attack drones and decoy drones. Ukraine's air defenses shot down 128 drones, while 117 were neutralized by electronic warfare systems or disappeared from radars, according to the Air Force.
Since the start of its full-scale invasion, Russia has routinely used missiles and drones to strike Ukraine’s civilian infrastructure.
The first explosions in Kyiv were reported around 10 p.m. on May 23, the same day Ukraine and Russia began their largest prisoner exchange, with 390 Ukrainians returned that day, President Volodymyr Zelensky said.
Drone debris then fell in the Holosiivskyi, Shevchenkivskyi, and Sviatoshynskyi districts, according to Kyiv city officials. Air defense has been active in the capital, Klitschko said in a post to Telegram.
Another wave of explosions was heard at around 1 a.m. local time. Ukraine's Air Force earlier warned there is a threat of ballistic missile and drone strikes against several regions.
Later in the night, missile debris was reported in the Obolonskyi district, while in the Solomianskyi district, drone fragments struck a residential building, causing a fire. A non-residential building caught fire in the Sviatoshynskyi district following the attack.
Meanwhile, a 54-year-old man and a 50-year-old woman were injured in a Russian drone attack on Kyiv Oblast’s Brovary district late on May 23, local authorities reported. Both sustained shrapnel wounds to the thigh and were hospitalized.
Daria Shulzhenko
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