First responders are on the scene following a Russian missile attack in Kiev, Ukraine, on Saturday. Efrem Lukatsky/AP Hide caption
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Efrem Lukatsky/AP
KIEV, Ukraine — Russia attacked the Ukrainian capital Saturday with a barrage of drones and missiles, killing at least three people and setting Russian industrial facilities on fire in the Ukrainian attack.
Russia launched 39 Shahid drones, other simulator drones and four ballistic missiles early Saturday, according to the Ukrainian Air Force. Ukraine’s air defense forces shot down two missiles and 24 drones. A further 14 drone simulators went missing, the statement said.
Kiev’s military authorities said three people were killed and three more injured in the attack. The fourth victim was believed to be dead, but the government later announced that the incident had not yet been confirmed. Officials say the victims are two men, ages 43 and 25, and a 41-year-old woman.
Ukraine’s General Prosecutor’s Office said in a statement that the casualties included security guards at a restaurant and people riding minibuses on the street.
Associated Press reporters at the scene saw a dead man lying in a pool of blood in the rubble. Roads were flooded with water while firefighters extinguished the fire caused by the attack.
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said windows were broken and smoke rose at the entrances to homes in the city’s Shevchenkivsky district. Water pipelines were also damaged, he added. Lukyanivska metro station was closed after the glass entrance was damaged in the attack, but it was later reopened.
Drones and missiles were also shot down in many regions of Ukraine, including Poltava, Sumy, Kharkiv, Cherkasy, Chernihiv, Kiev, Khmelnytsky, Zhytomir, Kirovohrad, Dnipropetrovsk, Kherson, and Donetsk.
Local governor Ivan Fedorov announced that Russian missiles had struck the regional capital of Zaporizhzhia, damaging homes and private cars and injuring 10 people. He said in a statement that eight people, ranging in age from 28 to 69, were hospitalized, including a 48-year-old woman in critical condition.
Elsewhere, industrial sites in Russia’s Kaluga and Tula regions were set on fire by Ukrainian drone strikes, local officials said on Saturday.
The Russian Ministry of Defense announced that 46 drones were destroyed overnight across Ukraine.
In the Kaluga region, a drone attack caused a fire in the town of Lyudinovo, Governor Vladislav Shapsha wrote on Telegram. Residents said on social media that the attack targeted a local oil depot.
Fires were also reported in the Tula region, with Governor Dmitry Milyaev saying a fuel storage tank had been set on fire. He warned residents to stay away from fallen drone debris.
No casualties were reported in either case.
