Russian forces used Iranian-made kamikaze drones to attack Ukraine’s capital Kyiv, killing 4 and wounding 9 people
Russia attacked Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine with a barrage of Iranian-made “Kamikaze” drone attacks today, i.e., Monday, October 17, 2022, killing 4 and wounding 19 people.
The strikes on Kyiv appear to be part of a wider assault involving drones and cruise missiles. The Ukrainian Air Force said it had destroyed 37 Iranian-made Kamikaze drones and 3 cruise missiles in the South and East of the country early morning.
The blasts were heard as early as 6:45 a.m. local time, including one in the city’s Shevchenkivskyi District. One of the strikes hit close to Kyiv’s main train station.
Speaking on the occasion, the President of Ukraine – Volodymyr Zelenskyy said, “Kamikaze drones and missiles are attacking all of Ukraine. The enemy can attack our cities, but it won’t be able to break us. The occupiers will get only fair punishment and condemnation of future generations. And we will get victory.”
Fresh attacks in the Eastern regions of Dnipropetrovsk and Sumy targeted crucial infrastructure. A total of 3 people were killed by rockets in Sumy. 9 people were wounded and 1,625 were left without power due to infrastructure damage. In the port city of Mykolaiv, sunflower oil tanks were set on fire by the suicide drones.
The Prime Minister of Ukraine – Denys Shmyhal has asked citizens to reduce power consumption, especially during peak hours, to help stabilize the country’s electricity system.
Russia’s Defense Ministry on Monday said it had launched high-precision weapons at military energy targets across Ukraine aimed at military and energy targets.
Kamikaze drones, or suicide drones, are small, portable aerial weapon systems that are hard to detect and can be fired at a distance. They can be easily launched and are designed to hit behind enemy lines and be destroyed in the attack. Ukraine has reported a spate of Russian attacks with Iranian-made Shahed-136 drones in recent weeks. Iran has denied supplying the drones to Russia. The United States (U.S.) has said that Iran planned to send hundreds to Russia, costing U.S. $ 20,000 (£ 17,800) each.
However, the attack comes despite the President of Russia – Vladimir Putin claiming there is no need of massive air strikes now.
The latest aggression comes a week after Russia began an intense, 2-day nationwide bombardment of Ukraine that killed at least 19 people and leveled civilian targets, drawing global outrage. The strikes also caused major damage to power systems across Ukraine, forcing people to reduce consumption during peak hours to avoid blackouts.
