(AFP) - Russian forces targeted Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, as part of an overnight bombardment felt across the country, local officials said Saturday, while drones that Russian officials blamed on the Ukrainian military targeted areas around Moscow and the region of Smolensk.
A ballistic missile was shot down as it approached the Ukrainian capital, said Serhii Popko, head of the Kyiv City Military Administration. He said that no one was injured.
The Ukrainian Air Force later confirmed an Iskander-M ballistic missile was used in the attack, the first attempted missile strike on Kyiv in almost two months.
In Moscow, Russia’s defense ministry said that its aerial strikes had hit an ammunition depot serving the 43rd mechanized brigade of Ukraine’s Armed Forces near the village of Devichki in the Kyiv region. In an online statement, it said that Ukrainian drones had been shot down over the Smolensk and Moscow regions.
Smolensk governor, Vasiliy Anokhin, posted on social media that no one was wounded in the attack.
Meanwhile, trains carrying cargo in Russia’s Ryazan region were derailed Saturday morning due to “unauthorized interference,” Moscow rail operator MZHD said.
Ukraine marks first anniversary of Kherson city's liberation
Ukrainian officials on Saturday celebrated the recapture of the capital of the southern region of Kherson from Russian forces a year ago, the last major shift of the front line.
Ukrainian forces liberated the southern city of Kherson last November, routing Russian troops in an embarrassing defeat for the Kremlin after eight months of occupation.
"Today is the first anniversary of the liberation of Kherson from Russian occupation... A city of hope," President Volodymyr Zelensky said, thanking soldiers and locals.
However, the sprawling front line between Russian and Ukrainian sides has remained mostly static for almost a year despite a much-touted Ukrainian counter-offensive, with Russian forces entrenched in southern and eastern Ukraine.
Russian forces based across the river from Kherson city still control swathes of territory and shell towns and villages they retreated from.
Ukraine says it downed 19 out of 31 drones launched by Russia overnight
Ukraine said on Saturday that it downed around two-thirds of the 31 attack drones launched by Russia overnight, mostly in frontline areas.
"Nineteen enemy Shahed-136/131 attack unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) were destroyed. The Russian occupants sent most of the attack UAVs to the frontline areas," the air force said, adding Russia also used several missiles.
Two strong explosions were heard in central Kyiv
Two strong explosions were heard in central Kyiv on Saturday morning by AFP journalists, who also saw trails in the sky, shortly before air raid sirens sounded.
"Strong explosions were heard on the left bank of the capital. According to preliminary information, the air defences worked against ballistic weapons," Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko wrote on Telegram.
There were no reports of injured people so far, he said.
The attack came after a long period of calm in the Ukrainian capital.
Russian forces still trying to surround the eastern Ukrainian city of Avdiivka, the Ukrainian army says
The Russian army, which has been attacking the city of Avdiivka in eastern Ukraine for the past month, is still trying to encircle it and seize a strategic factory, said a Ukrainian army spokesman on Friday, adding that two civilians had been killed the previous day.