Putin's military fires wave of drone attacks on Kyiv including one near maternity hospital

Vladimir Putin’s military unleashed another wave of drone attacks on Kyiv including one that struck near a maternity hospital.

Around two dozen Russian drones targeted Ukraine’s capital early on Friday, local officials said, injuring two people and damaging residential buildings in Moscow’s latest overnight drone strike against Ukraine.

It was the sixth such attack on Kyiv this month and part of a larger drone swarm aimed at parts of central, southern and western Ukraine, the country’s air force said.

Ukrainian air defences shot down 24 out of 28 attack drones, it said.

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said a drone 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 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.

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

Mr 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.

Pictures posted online showed construction materials strewn about the site.

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

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

With drones playing such a major role in the conflict, Ukraine is seeking to build a million of the reconnaissance and attack aircraft next year.

The frontlines in Putin's war are now largely static but US defence chiefs say Russia may seek to launch new offensives once winter freezes the land for longer periods making it easier for armoured vehicles to move than in heavy mud.

Ukraine’s southern command said on Friday an unspecified infrastructure facility in the Mykolaiv region had been struck and that fragments from a downed drone had damaged a grain storage facility in the Odesa region.

No injuries were reported and the resulting fires were extinguished, authorities said.