13 drones shot down over Kyiv

“According to preliminary information, all 13 drones were shot down by the Ukrainian air defense forces,” announced Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, according to the Ukrinform news agency. “This week we made significant progress on the issue of anti-aircraft defense,” Zelenskyy said in the evening video message.

He did not give details. According to media reports, the US government is considering supplying the Patriot air defense system to Ukraine.

Zelenskyj reported that 13 Russian drones had been shot down in the morning. “That means 13 spared infrastructure objects, that’s saved lives,” he said. Ukraine is constantly expanding its air defenses. “And we are doing everything to get more modern and more effective systems for Ukraine.”

Administrative buildings and residential buildings hit

No people were harmed in the attacks. In the center of the three-million metropolis, however, two administration buildings and four residential buildings were damaged by debris from drones shot down, and a private residential building and a car were damaged in the outskirts of Kyiv. The air alert, which was triggered in the early hours of the morning, was only lifted several hours later.

On Wednesday morning, Kiev Mayor Vitaly Klitschko confirmed several explosions in the Telegram news service without giving any details. Ukrainian media reported Russian drone strikes on Kyiv and the surrounding area. The Shahed-131 and -136 drones are said to have taken off from the east coast of the Sea of ​​Azov, the Ukrainian Air Force reported on Telegram, according to the Ukrinform news agency.

Air alert in Kyiv and surroundings

There were air raids in the capital, the surrounding area and in Zhytomyr and Vinnytsia. Artillery and rocket fire were also reported from the towns of Nikopol and Marhanets in central Ukraine’s Dnepropetrovsk region. Several buildings were damaged, Ukrinform reported, citing the local military administration.

According to Ukrainian sources, Russian forces fired rockets at the building of the regional administration in the central square of the recently liberated city of Kherson. Two floors were damaged, said the deputy head of the presidential office, Kyrylo Tymoshenko. But nobody was injured. Tymoshenko posted pictures on Telegram showing debris next to the building and the ceiling of a corridor inside that had collapsed. Some windows appeared to be broken. A video also circulating on Telegram showed a huge plume of smoke rising from the roof of the administration building.

Ukraine retook Cherson from Russian forces on November 11. This led to days of celebrations in the square, which President Zelenskyy visited days later to celebrate the end of the Russian occupation. Ever since Russian forces left the city and retreated from the west bank of the Dnipro, they have been shelling Kherson from the opposite side of the river.

Great environmental damage

Meanwhile, Selenskyj pointed to the major environmental damage caused by the Russian war of aggression. These will affect millions of people for years to come, he said in a video address to the New Zealand Parliament. “Dozens of rivers are polluted, hundreds of coal mines are flooded, dozens of the most dangerous companies, including chemical ones, have been destroyed by Russian attacks.”

The seas of the country and around three million hectares of forest are contaminated. “All of this… will have a direct impact on millions of people.” You can’t rebuild the destroyed nature, “just as you can’t restore life that has been destroyed.”

After speaking with UN Secretary-General António Guterres, Zelenskyy said the United Nations and Ukraine were working together on a mission to inspect the power plants.

Selenskyj complained that Russia was only aiming for destruction and wanted to reduce everything to rubble and ashes. “There is no rest at the front.” At the same time, the President reported that 64 Ukrainian officers and soldiers had been released from Russian captivity.