Kyiv region hit by kamikaze drones as fighting continues along Ukraine's southern front

Ukraine's capital region was struck by Iranian-made kamikaze drones early Thursday, officials said, sending rescue workers rushing to the scene as residents awoke to air raid sirens for the fourth consecutive morning following Russia's major assault across the country earlier this week.

A strike carried out near Makrariv, a small city located 50 kilometres west of Kyiv, destroyed critical infrastructure. Throughout the capital region, residents whose lives had resumed some normalcy when the war moved east months ago again awoke to air raid sirens.

It wasn't clear if the explosive-packed drones caused any casualties. Ukrainian officials said 13 people were killed and 37 wounded in the past day in Russian missile strikes that targeted nine regions of Ukraine.

The speaker of Russia's lower house of parliament on Thursday said Russian forces struck more than 70 energy facilities in Ukraine this week and threatened an "even tougher" response to future attacks by "the Kyiv regime."

"All the organizers and perpetrators of the terrorist attacks must be found; those who resist must be destroyed," State Duma speaker Vyacheslav Volodin wrote on Telegram.

In the southern city of Mykolaiv, overnight shelling destroyed a five-storey apartment building as fighting continued along Ukraine's southern front.

Mykolaiv regional governor Vitali Kim said that an 11-year-old boy was rescued from under the rubble, where he had spent six hours, and rescuers on Thursday morning were searching for seven more people, Kim said.

He said that the building was hit by an S-300 missile, which is ordinarily used for targeting military aircraft, but Russians have apparently been increasingly using them for imprecise ground strikes.

Early morning attacks on Ukraine's southern front have become a daily occurrence in Russia's war as Kyiv's forces push a counteroffensive aimed at recapturing territory occupied by Moscow.

Attacks on Kyiv had become rare before the capital city was hit at least four times during massive strikes on Monday, which killed at least 19 people and wounded more than 100 across the country.

Ukraine's military said this week that its current air defences have shot down dozens of incoming Russian missiles and Shahed-136 drones, the so-called kamikaze drones that have played an increasingly deadly role in the war.

Ukraine's air force command said Thursday its air defence shot down six Iranian drones from over the Odesa and Mykolaiv regions during the night. Ukrainian officials said that Iranian instructors based in the occupied regions of Ukraine have trained Russians how to operate the drones.

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