Blackouts, Fire in Kyiv after Russia Attacks with 35 Iran-made Drones

Russia’s Iran-supplied drones targeted Kyiv region overnight, causing fairly serious" damage to infrastructure and leaving some areas without power.

Air raid sirens and then a number of explosions woke residents in Kyiv in the early hours of Monday morning in what is Moscow's third air attack on the city in six days. Mayor Vitaliy Klitschko confirmed that there had been "explosions" in the central Shevchenkivsky District and Solomianskyi District in the west of it.

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Kyiv city military administration said on social media that 23 Russian UAVs were spotted in the sky above the capital, of which air defense destroyed 18.

Two people have been reported injured. Ukrainian energy operator DTEK said there would be emergency power cuts in the capital following the attack.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in an online address during a UK Joint Expeditionary Force (JEF) meeting that 34 Iran-made Shahed Kamikaze UAVs were used in the attacks.

"Ukraine was again attacked by Iranian drones last night. Thirty-four Shaheds. I say both the number and the name, and quite specifically. These are Shaheds from a new batch that Russia received from Iran. 250 pieces - that's how many Shaheds have now been received by the terrorist state," he said.

Zelenskyy said Russian missiles and Iranian drones were being constantly used for strikes against his country, primarily against energy infrastructure. He added that a recent drone attack affected more than 20 million Ukrainians, leaving cities with a population of more than a million and most of the Ukrainian regions without electricity.

"A total of 22.408 million Ukrainians were disconnected from the energy supply on the evening of December 16. The supply of water and heating to more than ten million people was halted," he added.