Russia launches more than 100 drones at Ukraine in New Year’s attack, Kyiv says

LONDON — At least six people, including a pregnant woman, were injured in Kyiv as Russia launched more than 100 drones in an overnight strike into New Year’s Day, Ukrainian military and civil officials said.

Ukraine’s air force said at least 111 attack drones were launched toward at least 10 regions throughout Ukraine, including the capital. Ukraine shot down 63 of the drones and another 46 failed to strike a target, the military said.

“The air attack was repelled by aviation, anti-aircraft missile troops, electronic warfare units, mobile fire groups of the Air Force and the Defense Forces of Ukraine,” the air force said.

Ukraine began the new year under “another massive air attack,” said Ruslan Stefanchuk, the chair of Ukraine’s parliament.

“These inhumans decided to give us a hot start to the year and, like real weaklings and cowards, continued to hit civilians,” Stefanchuk said on social media. “I wish the victims a speedy recovery.”

Air raid sirens began blaring before sunrise in Kyiv, urging people to make their way to shelters, the Kyiv City State Administration said.

Most of the injured were in the city’s central Pecherskyi neighborhood, where the strike started a fire in an apartment building, Vitali Klitschko, Kyiv’s mayor, said in a post in Ukrainian on the Telegram messaging app.

“Two of them were hospitalized. Two were treated on the spot by doctors,” Klitschko said. A pregnant woman was among the injured, the city administration said in a statement.

Falling debris also broke windows, started a fire in a garage and damaged trams in the western Sviatoshynskyi neighborhood, Klitschko added.