"All night and all morning, the enemy terrorizes the civilian population. Kamikaze drones and missiles are attacking all of Ukraine. The enemy can attack our cities but it won't be able to break us," Zelensky said.
He confirmed a residential building in Kyiv had been hit after the mayor of the capital said two people had been trapped under the rubble, as per AFP reports.
Waves of explosive-laden suicide drones struck Ukraine's capital as families were preparing to start their week early Monday, the blasts echoing across Kyiv, setting buildings ablaze and sending people scurrying to shelters.
Even in a city that has become grimly accustomed to air strikes since Russia launched its invasion in February, such a concentrated use of drones sowed terror and frayed nerves, with people nervously scanning the skies as they sought shelter, AP reported.
The exact number of drones nose-dived into the capital wasn’t immediately clear. Drones used in the attack appeared to include Iranian-made Shaheds. Previous Russian air strikes on Kyiv were mostly with missiles.
The capital's central Shevchenko district was among the areas hit, with apartment blocks damaged and a non-residential building on fire, Kyiv city mayor Vitali Klitschko told AP.
He added that a total of 18 people were rescued from the rubble of one apartment building and that rescue workers were trying to extract two other people known to be under the debris.
“The whole night, and the whole morning, the enemy terrorizes the civilian population," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a social media post, adding that, “Kamikaze drones and missiles are attacking all of Ukraine."
“The enemy can attack our cities, but it won’t be able to break us," he wrote.
Social media video posts showed drones buzzing over the capital and smoke billowing in the early morning light. The sound of sustained gunfire could also be heard in one post, seemingly trying to shoot a drone down.
(With inputs from agencies)
