Mass drone attack hits several Kyiv districts

Russian drones bore down on the city of Kyiv early on Friday (Dec 22), with Mayor Vitali Klitschko and other officials reporting strikes on widely separated residential districts.

It was the sixth drone attack on the capital this month. Two people were injured.

Klitschko, writing on the Telegram messaging app, said a drone had hit a block of flats in the Solomyanskyi district, south of the city centre, triggering a fire on the upper floors that was quickly brought under control.

Emergency services, also writing on Telegram, said several apartments were damaged on the 24th, 25th and 26th storeys of the building. Two people were injured, including one being treated in hospital.

The incident occurred a few hundred metres from a maternity hospital.

Air raid alerts were later lifted in almost all regions.

A video posted on social media showed a giant orange flame going skyward in the night.

Klitschko also said drone fragments had set fire to a house under construction in Darnytskyi district on the eastern bank of the Dnipro River that runs through the city.

He said there were no injuries. Pictures posted online showed construction materials strewn about the site.

Serhiy Popko, head of Kyiv's military administration, reported fragments from a downed drone had struck an apartment building in a third area — Holosiivskyi district — also south of the city centre.

Popko posted pictures showing smashed windows and heavy damage to apartments.

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