Ukrainian officials reported that Ukrainian air defense units were working to counter a drone attack for the third consecutive night in Kyiv and its surroundings, resulting in fires, debris falling in several areas, and at least one death.
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko stated that the body of a resident was retrieved after emergency services extinguished a fire in the historic Podil area of the city. Klitschko mentioned a fire broke out in a residential building in Podil, and two people were injured as debris damaged one of the floors in the Darnytskyi district in the eastern part of the city.
Two other people were injured in the Shevchenkivskyi region to the west, where flames engulfed a balcony of a residential building. Debris also struck the Solomianskyi area in the center of the city.
The head of the Kyiv military administration, Serhiy Popko, described the attack as a "massive attack" by Iranian-made drones coming from various directions. Popko stated on Telegram: "The air defense forces detected and destroyed approximately ten foreign targets."
Photos on the Kyiv military administration's website showed burning buildings or damaged facades. The governor of the Kyiv region, Ruslan Kravchenko, noted, "Tonight, the Russians resorted again to a massive attack. The enemy targeted the Kyiv region with drones and missiles. The air raid alert lasted for more than three hours."
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's office reported that a Kalibr missile and several drones were shot down in the Mykolaiv region in the south of the country, but damage occurred to a school and about ten houses due to falling debris.
Reports of explosions were received from other regional centers, but there were no immediate reports of casualties or damage. The three-day-long attacks coincided with a NATO summit in Lithuania, during which President Zelenskyy praised the summit for providing Ukraine with a "security foundation" for the first time since independence. He had previously expressed some frustration at the lack of a timeline for securing NATO membership.
Twenty-four hours prior, Ukraine shot down 11 of 15 Iranian-made drones launched by Russia, and two people were injured in a fire resulting from the attack on Kyiv. An elderly man was killed in shelling targeting the southern city of Kherson.
With the sound of explosions continuing to echo in the capital and other regional centers after more than 500 days of the Russian invasion, military officials stated that Ukrainian forces are making progress in their counteroffensive on the front lines in the east and south, which includes gains near the devastated city of Bakhmut, held by Russian forces since May after months of fighting.
