KYIV: Russian forces targeted Ukraine’s capital Kyiv as part of an overnight bombardment felt across the country, local officials said on Saturday, while drones that Russian officials blamed on the Ukrainian military targeted areas around Moscow and the region of Smolensk.
Elsewhere in Ukraine, the strikes killed four people in three regions: two in Kherson, one in Dnipropetrovsk and another in Zaporizhzhia, local officials reported.
A ballistic missile was shot down as it approached Kyiv, said Serhii Popko, head of the Kyiv City Military Administration. He said no one was injured.The Ukrainian air force later confirmed an Iskander-M ballistic missile was used in the attack, the first attempted missile strike on Kyiv in almost two months.
Ukraine’s air defence systems actively repelled attacks in Odesa, Dnipropetrovsk, Kharkiv, Poltava, Sumy and Kirovohrad regions. The country’s air force said Russian troops launched 31 Shahed-136/131 drones, of which 19 were shot down.
Meanwhile, trains carrying cargo in Russia’s Ryazan region were derailed due to “unauthorised interference,” Moscow rail operator MZHD said. Russian law enforcement said 15 train carriages had been derailed southeast of the capital, while MZHD reported the number as 19.