Ukraine – live: Russian drones rain down on Kyiv in attack that lasted two hours

Russia launched an air attack on Kyiv early on Sunday, with blasts ringing out across the Ukrainian capital and its region for almost two hours and drone debris falling on several of the city’s central districts, Ukrainian officials said.

Ukraine’s Land Forces said that the country’s air defence systems destroyed 25 out of 32 Russia-launched Iran-made Shahed drones, most of which targeted Kyiv and the Kyiv region.

Reuters witnesses heard at least five blasts across Kyiv, and Ukrainian media footage showed a number of cars damaged.

“Drones came onto the capital in groups and from different directions,” Serhiy Popko, head of Kyiv’s city military administration, said on the Telegram messaging app.

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said that one person was injured in the historic Podil neighbourhood and a fire broke out near one of the city’s parks.

Debris from downed drones fell on the Darnytskyi, Solomianskyi, Shevchenkivskyi, Sviatoshynskyi and Podil districts, Klitschko and the city’s military administration said.

In the Shevchenkivskyi district, drone debris sparked a fire in an apartment, which was quickly extinguished. There were no immediate reports of injuries, Popko said on the Telegram messaging app.

There was no immediate comment from Russia about the attacks. Moscow has been conducting near-nightly assaults on Ukraine’s territory. A Russian attack killed 17 on Wednesday in the eastern city of Kostiantynivka, according to Ukrainian officials.

An overnight aerial attack launched in Ukraine capital Kyiv had drones coming in from “different directions” and “in groups”, according to a military official.

Ukrainian officials earlier said they destroyed 25 out of 32 Iran-made drones launched by Russia, most of which had targeted Kyiv and the Kyiv region.

Witnesses cited by Reuters said they heard at least five blasts overnight. Kyiv’s mayor had said one person was injured in the Podil neighbourhood and a fire had broken out near one of the city’s parks.

“Drones came onto the capital in groups and from different directions,” Serhiy Popko, head of Kyiv’s city military administration, said on the Telegram messaging app.

The affected districts included Darnytskyi, Solomianskyi, Shevchenkivskyi, Sviatoshynskyi and Podil, according to the city’s military administration.

Russia’s military arsenal has been depleted enough for it to turn to isolated North Korea amid its now year-and-a-half-long invasion of Ukraine.

The country is set to host a regional summit on Sunday that could see the participation of North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un who, reports said, could reach the country by armoured train.

The visit is significant as Russia faces depleted reserves due to its invasion. And estimates cited by The Associated Press have revealed that North Korea has tens of millions of artillery shells and rockets that could give a huge boost to the Russian army.

US officials have said they expected Mr Kim to seal a deal to transfer munitions to Russia in the coming days, in a marked reversal from the 1950s during the Korean war, when it was the Soviet Union that supplied weaponry to the North.

“We know that Russian defence minister Sergei Shoigu has visited recently for artillery shells predominantly, and most likely that will be discussed between Putin and Kim Jong-un,” Alexander Gabuev, head of the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center, was quoted as saying by The Associated Press.

Elon Musk has admitted that his refusal to grant Ukraine permission to use his Starlink satellite network was an attempt to prevent a drone attack on a Russian naval fleet – with one Ukrainian official saying that his country is paying “the price of a cocktail of ignorance and big ego”.

The Starlink satellite internet service, which is run by the technology billionaire’s SpaceX company, has been a digital lifeline both for Ukraine’s military and for civilians in areas where Russia’s invasion has left infrastructure devastated or jammed.

An extract of a new biography of Musk, published by CNN on Thursday, said that the drones – packed with explosives – “lost connectivity and washed ashore harmlessly” during the thwarted assault last year, after Musk ordered his engineers to turn off the network.

Musk is said to have feared that a strike on the ports of Russian-occupied Crimea would amount to a “mini Pearl Harbor”.

Having apparently spoken to the Russian ambassador to the United States – who is reported to have told him that an attack on Crimea would trigger a nuclear response – Musk is then said to have ordered his engineers to turn off Starlink coverage “within 100km of the Crimean coast”.

The Myanmar junta government has received its first shipment of Russian Su-30 fighter jets, the country’s trade minister told Russian state-run media.

Russia and Myanmar had signed a contract last year for the delivery of six Su-30SME fighter jets, according to Russian state-run RIA.

“Two aircraft have already been delivered,” Charlie Than, Myanmar’s trade minister, told the state-run news agency.

The minister was speaking on the sidelines of a Russian economic summit in Vladivostok. He also said a number of bilateral agreements will be signed at the East Economic Forum, including on developing tourism between the two countries.

Myanmar has seen the junta increase its grip on the country ever since it launched a military coup in 2021.

The US has also warned Russia against backing Myanmar’s military rulers and said its supply of weapons to the country is fueling a conflict that has become a catastrophe for Myanmar.

At least 25 of the 32 drones launched by Vladimir Putin’s forces early on Sunday have been drowned, Ukraine’s land forces said.

The announcement comes as Kyiv was subjected to aerial attacks overnight, with witnesses hearing as many as five blasts, reported Reuters. The scale of the attack has not yet been ascertained.

India has defied expectations to produce a New Delhi Declaration backed by all countries at this weekend’s G20 summit at the expense of any meaningful condemnation of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Indian prime minister Narendra Modi announced “the good news” shortly before 1600 local time [1000 GMT] on the first day of the G20 leaders’ summit in Delhi – much to the surprise of many observers and analysts, who felt that the Ukraine issue would stand in the way of a consensus on any joint statement at all, much less an early one.

Ukraine rejected the joint statement, saying “the G20 has nothing to be proud of in the part about Russia’s aggression against Ukraine”.

Ukraine does feature in the full 37-page declaration released by the Indian foreign ministry on Saturday, which says leaders “highlighted the human suffering and negative added impacts of the war in Ukraine” without directly mentioning Russia.

“There were different views and assessments of the situation,” it adds, in something of an understatement.

The depleted uranium anti-tank rounds soon to be in Ukraine’s military stockpiles have kicked up a debate over its use in the continuing Russian invasion.

Britain has already promised armour-piercing rounds containing depleted uranium to Ukraine in March. Prime minister Rishi Sunak had backed drawing out the rounds from the UK military’s stockpiles ultimately “to degrade and deter – primarily – Russian aggression”.

But what are these depleted uranium munitions?

Vladimir Putin’s defence ministry has claimed it destroyed eight drones over the Black Sea near the Crimean Peninsula in the early hours of Sunday even as overnight drone attacks were launched on capital Kyiv.

The incident, reported by Reuters, could not be independently verified. Russia accused Ukraine of launching the drones.

The Russian defence ministry has also not said if there were any casualties. Ukraine’s officials have not commented on the incident yet.

Air attacks were launched on Kyiv early on Sunday, with blasts heard across the capital. Drone debris fell on its central districts and the scale of the attack has not been ascertained yet.

Kyiv’s mayor Vitali Klitschko said one person was injured in the Podil neighbourhood and a fire broke out near one of the city’s parks.

The debris from the downed drones fell on the Darnytskyi, Solomianskyi, Shevchenkivskyi, Sviatoshynskyi and Podil districts, according to the city’s military administration and Mr Klitschko.

The debris also sparked a fire in the Shevchenkivskyi district, but this was immediately put out, according to officials.

Reuters cited its witnesses as saying they heard at least five blasts.