Ukrainian air defences shot down «all 13 drones» launched by Russia in new strikes on Kyiv and the surrounding area on Wednesday morning, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a video.
Several buildings were damaged in the latest attack, but no casualties have been reported.
It comes amid reports that the United States is close to finalising plans to send its Patriot air defence system to Ukraine in a potentially pivotal move in Russia’s war against the country.
Zelenskyy referred to the drones as «Shahed», the Iranian-made so-called «suicide» devices used by Russia in many attacks recently.
The capital was targeted by «two waves» of attacks, the head of the Ukrainian capital’s military administration Sergei Popko said in a statement posted on Telegram, adding that «shrapnel from downed drones hit an administrative building» in the central Shevchenkyvskyi district.
AFP journalists at the scene saw the building with its roof partially torn off. Four residential buildings were slightly damaged, Popko said.
Authorities said earlier that at least two administrative buildings had been hit in the latest attack, after Kyiv’s mayor Vitali Klitschko reported multiple explosions in a central district, adding that emergency teams were on their way. Air raid siren alerts sounded for about 20 minutes before the blasts.
Ukrainian authorities said that during the last round of attacks on 5 December, more than 60 of 70 strikes were intercepted by air defence systems.
The barrage of recent Russian air strikes across the country has largely targeted infrastructure, while fighting has continued along the front lines in Ukraine’s eastern and southern regions.
US officials said on Tuesday that the United States was poised to approve sending a Patriot missile battery to Ukraine, agreeing to an urgent request from Ukrainian leaders desperate for more robust weapons to shoot down incoming Russian missiles.
Zelenskyy pressed Western leaders again on Monday to provide more advanced weapons.
The Patriot would be the most advanced surface-to-air missile system the West has provided to Ukraine to help repel Russian aerial attacks in the war between the countries that erupted with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on February 24.
US officials also said last week that Moscow has been looking to Iran to resupply the Russian military with drones and surface-to-surface missiles.
On Tuesday, more than 50 countries and international organisations at a conference in Paris pledged €1 billion in aid for Ukraine to keep the country in power and fed through the winter.