A view of a residential building in Kyiv destroyed by a Russian-manned Iranian drone strike. Photo: Reuters/Roman Petushkov

i24News – Russia unleashed a drone attack on Ukraine Monday morning.

Ukraine’s military said it shot down 39 of the 40 Iran-made kamikaze drones that targeted the capital Kyiv.

Moscow targeted critical infrastructure in Kyiv and nearby towns, causing power outages and wounding at least one civilian, local officials said. According to Kyiv’s Mayor Vitali Klitschko, out of 40 drones that had been spotted over Kyiv, 15 were downed over the neighboring regions, three in the Kyiv region, and 22 directly in the city’s air zone.

Ukraine’s air forces said on Telegram that they downed “39 Iranian-made kamikaze drones Shahed-131/136” and two Russian “Orlan-10 drones.”

Earlier on Monday, Oleksii Kuleba, head of the Kyiv region military administration, said in his Telegram account that were “waves” of attacks by Iranian-made kamikaze drones.

“Russians launched several waves of Shahed drones. Targeting critical infrastructure facilities. Air defense is at work,” he wrote.

According to Klitschko, the strikes had knocked out some power and heating.

“There are emergency power outages in the city,” he wrote on Telegram.

“An injured 19-year-old man was hospitalized in the Desnyanskyi district of the capital,” the mayor added. Authorities later said he was wounded by the falling debris.

#Russia-Ukraine War: #Drone attack on #Kyiv after air #alerts issued across eastern #Ukraine. pic.twitter.com/E9DbsxL7cY

— Gopal Sengupta (@senguptacanada) January 2, 2023

New Year’s weekend in Ukraine was marked by dozens of Russian assaults that killed at least four people. According to President Volodymyr Zelensky, Ukrainian forces shot down 45 Iranian-made Shahed drones fired by Russia on the first night of the year.

In his national address on Sunday, he praised Ukrainians for their unity and support for the country’s military.

“Drones, missiles, everything else will not help them,” he said of the Russians. “Because we stand united. They are united only by fear.”

In his own New Year’s speech, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that the Russian soldiers were fighting for “our motherland, truth and justice… so that Russia’s security can be guaranteed.”