Ukraine war: Kyiv fears winter bombardment after second straight night of Russian drone attacks

Russia has launched drone attacks over the Ukrainian capital for the second night in a row after several weeks of reprieve, city officials have said.

Writing on the Telegram app, Serhiy Popko, the head of Kyiv’s military administration, said: “The enemy’s UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles) were launched in many groups and attacked Kyiv in waves, from different directions, at the same time constantly changing the vectors of movement along the route.

“That is why the air raid alerts were announced several times in the capital.”

Mr Popko added early information suggested air defence systems hit around 15-20 Iranian-made Shahed drones across Kyiv and the surrounding area.

There were no initial reports of “critical damage” or casualties, but some infrastructure had been hit

Sky News has not been able to verify the claims, and Russia has not commented on the allegations.

It comes days after Foreign Secretary David Cameron visited Kyiv to meet President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, where he pledged to continue supporting Ukraine.

Russia returns to familiar tactics

The attacks bear similarities to 12 months ago, when Russia began targeting Ukraine’s energy, military and transport infrastructure, six months after withdrawing its troops from around the capital.

In the winter months, Ukraine was hit with hundreds of missiles and drones, leaving millions without energy and heating during the coldest part of the year.

After a pause of 52 days, Russia resumed its aerial bombardment on Kyiv earlier this month.

On Saturday, officials said all drones aimed at the capital had been destroyed, adding some had hit buildings in other parts of Ukraine.

There had also been power outages, knocking out lines in more than 400 Ukrainian towns and villages.

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Ukraine ‘preparing’ for winter attacks

Mr Zelenskyy has warned Russia could restart a campaign of attacks aimed at civilian infrastructure in the winter months.

In a nightly address on Saturday, he said: “The closer we are to winter, the more Russians will try to make the strikes more powerful.”

Volodymyr Kudrytskiy, the head of energy firm Ukrenergo, told local media: “All of us energy workers and defence forces are preparing to repel possible Russian attacks on the energy infrastructure this winter.”