“Russia and Ukraine engage in drone warfare, explosions heard in Kiev”

Russia and Ukraine

On Thursday evening, explosions sounded in the Ukrainian capital, Kiev, where the air alert was activated.

A drone was seen in the sky of the Ukrainian capital, and the air defenses were trying to shoot it down.

Footage showed a drone over the presidential palace, and the air defenses managed to shoot it down.

Ukrainian authorities issued an air raid alert for Kiev and the surrounding area, and witnesses heard small gun fire and explosions in the capital. Witnesses heard frequent gunshots and explosions near the city centre.

Also last night, a loud explosion was heard in Kiev, resulting from the bombing of the “Arsenal” military complex. According to eyewitnesses, the sound of air raid sirens continued in the Ukrainian capital last night for 3 and a half hours.

Russia struck Ukraine again, Thursday, the day after it accused Kiev of launching an attack with marches on the Kremlin.

On Thursday morning, the Ukrainian army announced that it had shot down 18 of the 24 drones launched by Russia overnight.

Sergei Popko, head of the military administration for the city of Kiev, said that, according to preliminary information, “the air defense forces destroyed all enemy missiles and drones over Kiev.”

Popko added that this is the third day of attempted strikes on Kiev in May. “Our city has not witnessed such intense strikes since the beginning of this year,” he added.

He said that the wreckage of the drones fell on different parts of Kiev, but that there were no casualties.

Other cities in Ukraine also witnessed attacks on Thursday, including the coastal city of Odessa in the southwest of the country, which was targeted by “15 marches”, including 12 that were “downed”, according to local administration spokesman Sergey Prachuk.

The city of Kherson, close to the southern front, which declared a 58-hour curfew, starting from Friday evening, was the target, on Wednesday, of “intense” bombing, killing 23 people and wounding 46, according to the latest official toll published Thursday.

The intensification of Russian strikes in Ukraine in the past days comes at a time when Kiev announced the completion of preparations for a large-scale attack that it intends to launch, while Russia and Crimea, which Moscow annexed, witnessed a series of major attacks and sabotage operations.

On Wednesday, Russia announced that it had shot down two drones targeting the Kremlin in what it described as a “terrorist” attempt to assassinate President Vladimir Putin, while Ukraine denied its involvement in the attack.

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