A view of an explosion of a drone in the city during a Russian drone strike, in Kyiv, Ukraine, 13 July 2023;
Credit: Reuters/Gleb Garanich
KYIV (Reuters) - At least one person was killed on Thursday 13 July 2023 in a third successive night of Russian attacks on the Ukrainian capital Kyiv, the city's mayor said.
Air defences shot down all 20 drones launched by Russia to attack Kyiv and the surrounding region, as well as two Kalibr missiles in other parts of the country, the air force said.
But falling debris from the downed drones caused fires in the capital and a body was recovered in the historic Podil district, Mayor Vitali Klitschko said.
"This night, Russian terrorists again resorted to a mass attack. The enemy attacked the Kyiv region with drones and missiles. The air alert lasted more than three hours," Ruslan Kravchenko, the governor of the Kyiv region, said on the Telegram messaging app.
"Pretty nasty night," British Ambassador Melinda Simmons wrote on Twitter. "This morning I'm grateful for Ukrainian air defence and for my windowless shelter."
A Kalibr missile and several drones were shot down in the Mykolaiv region in southern Ukraine, but a school and about ten private houses were damaged by falling debris, President Volodymyr Zelensky's office said.
Russia, which began its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, did not immediately comment on the latest attacks.
There was no easing of air strikes while NATO leaders met in Lithuania this week for a summit which Zelensky said provided Ukraine with "a foundation of security" for the first time since it gained independence in 1991.
Heavy fighting also continued in Ukraine despite the summit. Kyiv says its forces are making progress in the east and south after launching a counteroffensive last month, but Russian forces large areas of Ukrainian territory.
Serhiy Cherevatyi, spokesperson for the eastern military command, said Ukraine had enjoyed "partial success" on the southern flanks of the shattered eastern city Bakhmut and that Ukrainian troops held the strategic initiative there.
He said Russian forces were putting up "unbelievable resistance" but had failed in attempts to break through Ukrainian lines near Lyman and Kupiansk, which lie between the eastern cities of Luhansk and Kharkiv.
