KYIV, Ukraine (AP) 鈥� Waves of explosives-laden suicide drones struck Ukraine鈥檚 capital Monday, setting buildings ablaze, tearing a hole in one of them and sending people scurrying for cover or trying to shoot them down in what the president said was Russia鈥檚 attempt to terrorize civilians.
The concentrated use of the kamikaze drones was the 鈥� after months in which air attacks had become a rarity in central Kyiv. The assault sowed fear and frayed nerves as blasts rocked the city. Energy facilities were struck and one drone largely collapsed a residential building, killing four people, authorities said.
Intense bursts of gunfire rang out as the Iranian-made Shahed drones buzzed overhead, apparently as soldiers tried to destroy them. Others headed for shelter, nervously scanning the skies. But to attacks nearly , and city life resumed as rescuers picked through debris.
Previous Russian airstrikes on Kyiv were mostly with missiles. Analysts believe the slower-moving to accurately hit certain targets using GPS unless the system fails.
Also Monday, a in a residential area in the Russian port of Yeysk, on the Sea of Azov, after an engine failure 鈥� killing at least four people on the ground, injuring 25 others and starting a fire that engulfed several floors of a nine-story apartment building, authorities said.
Vice governor of the region, Anna Menkova, said three of the victims died when they jumped from the building's upper floors to escape the flames, according to the RIA-Novosti news agency. Six more people were missing.
Both crewmembers, on a training mission, bailed out safely, the Russian Defense Ministry said.
In Kyiv, Mayor Vitali Klitschko said Monday's barrage came in successive waves of 28 drones 鈥� in what many fear could become a more common mode of attack as Russia seeks to avoid depleting .
Five drones plunged into Kyiv itself, said Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal. In the Kyiv region, at least 13 were shot down, all flying in from the south, said Yurii Ihnat, a spokesman for Ukraine's air force.
One strike appeared to target the city鈥檚 heating network, hitting an operations center. Another slammed into a four-story residential building, ripping open a gaping hole and collapsing at least three apartments. Four bodies were recovered, including those of a woman who was 6 months pregnant and her husband, Klitschko said. An older woman and another man also were killed there.
An Associated Press photographer caught one of the drones on camera, its triangle-shaped wing and pointed warhead clearly visible against the blue sky.
鈥淭he whole night, and the whole morning, the enemy terrorizes the civilian population," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a social media post. 鈥淜amikaze drones and missiles are attacking all of Ukraine.鈥�
In a televised address to the nation Monday night, Zelenskyy said Moscow was resorting to the drones because it was losing the war.
鈥淩ussia doesn鈥檛 have any chance on the battlefield, and it tries to compensate for its military defeats with terror,鈥� he said. 鈥淲hy this terror? To put pressure on us, on Europe, on the entire world.鈥�
Zelenskyy, citing Ukrainian intelligence services, alleges Russia ordered 2,400 drones from Iran. Russia has rebranded them as Geran-2 drones 鈥� 鈥済eranium鈥� in Russian. A photo of debris from one of Monday's strikes, posted by Klitschko, showed 鈥淕eran-2鈥� marked on a mangled tail fin.
Iran has previously denied providing Russia with weapons, although its Revolutionary Guard chief has boasted of providing arms to the world鈥檚 top powers, without elaborating.
The drones pack an explosive charge and can linger over targets before nosediving into them. Their blasts jolted people awake, including Snizhana Kutrakova, 42, who lives near one of the strikes.
"I'm full of rage,鈥� she said. 鈥淔ull of rage and hate.鈥�
The Russian military said it used 鈥渓ong-range air- and sea-based high-precision weapons鈥� to strike Ukrainian military and energy facilities. They hit 鈥渁ll assigned targets,鈥� Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba called for European Union sanctions on Iran for providing drones to Russia, and both he and Zelenskyy reiterated Ukraine's need for air defenses and weaponry.
EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said the 27-nation bloc is gathering evidence about Iran鈥檚 drone sales to Russia, and if true, 鈥渨e will be ready to react with the tools at our disposal.鈥� The EU also approved in Europe for thousands of Ukrainian troops and plans for about 500 million euros ($486 million) in extra funds to buy weapons for Ukraine.
Iranian-made drones have been used elsewhere in Ukraine in recent weeks against urban centers and infrastructure, including power stations. At just $20,000 apiece, the Shahed is only a fraction of the cost of higher-tech missiles and conventional aircraft. The Kalibr cruise missile that Russia has used widely in Ukraine costs the military about $1 million each.
Drone swarms also challenge Ukrainian air defenses. Western nations have promised systems that can shoot down drones but much of that weaponry has yet to arrive and could .
鈥淭he challenges are serious because the air defense forces and means are the same as they were at the beginning of the war," said Ihnat, the air force spokesman. Some Western-supplied air defense weaponry can only be used during daylight hours when targets are visible, he added.
Russian forces also struck energy infrastructure elsewhere, apparently seeking to compound pressure on Kyiv鈥檚 government after previous attacks knocked out power supplies.
Shmyhal, the prime minister, said hundreds of settlements were without power after missile attacks in the Dnipropetrovsk and Sumy regions.
Ukraine鈥檚 nuclear operator said Russian shelling cut power again to the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, of the Russian invasion. The nuclear plant, Europe鈥檚 largest, needs power for critical safety systems. When shelling severs its power supply lines, the plant is forced to rely on diesel generators -鈥� a temporary stopgap.
Russian President Vladimir Putin had said Friday that there was no need for more widespread attacks against Ukraine 鈥� after an earlier barrage of strikes that he said were retaliation for connecting Ukraine's Russian-occupied Crimean Peninsula with Russia.
However, Putin also said seven of 29 targets designated after the bridge attack were not hit 鈥渢he way the Defense Ministry had planned,鈥� so Moscow鈥檚 forces would continue to target them. He didn鈥檛 elaborate.
After months in which strikes in central Kyiv were rare, recent attacks put the country and its capital back on edge.
Monday's strike on Kyiv came amid intensified fighting in the eastern regions of Donetsk and Luhansk, as well as a continued Ukrainian counteroffensive in the south near Kherson and Zaporizhzhia. Zelenskyy said Sunday there was heavy fighting around the cities of Bakhmut and Soledar in the Donetsk region.
The Donetsk and Luhansk regions make up the industrial east known as the Donbas, and were two of four regions in defiance of international law.
In the south, Ukrainian air forces reported shooting down nine drones in the Mykolaiv region and six in the Odesa region. The governor of the eastern Kharkiv region said overnight attacks on a city and villages killed one and injured four.
Russia and Ukraine also completed a prisoner swap Monday. The Russian Defense Ministry said 110 Russians who were freed included 72 seamen from commercial vessels held since February, while 108 female Ukrainian POWs were handed over to Kyiv authorities, with two saying they wanted to stay in Russia. The Ukrainian side confirmed the exchange but not that two Ukrainians decided to stay in Russia.
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Sabra Ayres, Hanna Arhirova And Inna Varenytsia, The Associated Press
