Ukraine officials: Russia attacks Kyiv with kamikaze drones, two civilians killed

Vitali Klitschko, the mayor of Kyiv, has reported an explosion in the city centre.

“There was an explosion in the city centre. All the emergency services are headed to the area, more details to follow. The air raid alert is still on, stay in your shelters!” Klitschko wrote.

He also reported another explosion in the same area later; Ukraine’s capital was attacked by drones, he says, which caused a fire in a non-residential building and damaged several residential ones. He later reported that a residential building suffered an explosion, and 18 people were rescued. Two more individuals are remaining under the rubble, he added, not reporting any casualties.

UPDATE
Two civilians were killed by the kamikaze drones attack in Kyiv, Kyrylo Tymoshenko of Zelensky's administration reports; four people were injured and 19 rescued. The rescue operation is still on.

Kyiv was attacked by Russia’s kamikaze drones, says Andriy Yermak, the Head of Zelensky’s administration. “We need more anti-aircraft systems as soon as possible, we have no time to spare,” he wrote.

Klitschko reported two more explosions in Kyiv an hour later. He shared a photo of what he says is parts of a destroyed drone.

There are numerous videos being shared on social media.

Air raid alert was heard this morning in the regions of Kyiv, Zhytomyr, Vinnytsia, Cherkasy, Kropyvnytskyi, Mykolaiv and Odesa. Kyiv authorities reported on 5 October that the Shahed-136 drones Russia had bought off Iran attacked the town of Bila Tserkva. Russia also attacked Zaporizhzhia with those drones on 7 October, injuring one person.

Iran had signed a contract with Russia and would supply it with its Fateh-110 and Zolfaghar ballistic missiles intended for use in Ukraine, The Washington Post revealed yesterday. The missiles are capable of striking targets at distances of 300 and 700 kilometres. If carried out, it would be the first delivery of such missiles to Russia since the start of the war. Iran is also preparing new deliveries of unmanned aerial vehicles for Russia, including “dozens” of additional Mohajer-6s and a larger number of Shahed-136s kamikaze drones.

Iran started supplying Russia with drones intended for the Ukraine War in late August, as per The Washington Post. Tehran is expected to supply a few hundred UAVs of different kinds in total.