An eight-hour Russian drone barrage keeps Kiev on edge as the war in Ukraine drags on for nearly a thousand days

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Dozens of Russian drones targeted Kiev, the Ukrainian capital, in an eight-hour overnight attack, authorities said Thursday as Russia continued its brutal storm of Ukraine after almost 1,000 days of war.

Lone Russian drones as well as swarms of drones entered Ukrainian airspace from different directions and at different altitudes, officials said, in what was an apparent attempt to stretch air defense systems and unnerve city residents.

Ukrainian air defenses “neutralized” three dozen drones, but falling debris caused damage to a hospital and to residential and office buildings in Kiev, local authorities said. A fire broke out on the 33rd floor of an apartment building.

At least two people are said to have been injured.

Drone attacks on Kiev have been happening almost every day lately, with nightly explosions and the constant buzzing sound of drones keeping the city on edge. Russia is deploying about ten times more Iranian-made Shahed drones than this time last year, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said earlier this week.

The Ukrainian armed forces are struggling to match the might of the Russian army, which is much larger and better equipped. Western support is crucial for Ukraine to sustain the costly war of attrition. The uncertainty about how long that aid will last deepened this week when Donald Trump was elected the next American president. Trump has repeatedly objected to it US aid to Ukraine.

Russia, meanwhile, is trying to undermine Ukraine’s appetite for battle and undermine the West’s support for Kiev by provoking the conflict.

The Russian barrages mainly involve Iranian Shahed drones, which are terrorizing civilians, said Andrii Kovalenko, head of the state Center for Combating Disinformation.

Russia aims to save and stockpile its missiles, which are far more powerful than drones, Kovalenko claimed on Thursday, although Russia has used missiles effectively in its campaign to Shut down Ukraine’s power grid.

Moreover, the drone attacks are gradually wearing down Ukraine’s air defenses, making it more vulnerable to future missile launches.

On Thursday, Russia launched five rocket and glide bomb attacks on the southern city of Zaporizhia, killing at least four people and wounding 18. The attacks also damaged residential buildings and a hospital, the Ukrainian National Police said.

Among the injured were three children: a 4-month-old girl and two boys, ages 1 and 10, officials said.

Power outages have been reported in the Zhytomyr region, which borders Kiev to the west, after a Russian attack there, according to energy company Zhytomyroblenergo.

Another Russian drone strike injured one person in the southern city of Odesa, regional governor Oleh Kiper said, and drone debris damaged an 11-story residential building.

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