Flight alert over Kiev after Zelensky's warning

TT

Updated 21.15 | Published 20.53

 

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Oslo last week. Photo: Cornelius Poppe/NTB/TT

Russia attacks Kiev with drones, warns the country's air defense.

"The enemy is attacking the capital with attack drones. Seek cover!", writes the head of the city's military command, Timur Tkachenko, on Telegram.

The attack comes after Volodymyr Zelensky warned of Russian attacks.

The Ukrainian air defense reported shortly after 21:00 local time that Russia had launched a drone attack, reports Ukrainian Pravda.

The scope of the attack, which is ongoing, is still unclear. Likewise, how many of the drones have been neutralized by the defense.

Just hours before the attack, President Zelensky wrote on X that:

“Our intelligence reports that they have received information from, among others, the United States and our European partners that Russia is preparing an attack on Ukrainian territory, including Kiev, with various types of weapons.”

The US embassy warned at the same time that they have information about a “potentially significant attack that could come at any time in the next 24 hours.”

Zelensky also warned on Saturday that Russia is preparing an attack with the Russian hypersonic missile Oreshnik.

So far in the war, Russia has only used one Oreshnik missile, in an attack on Lviv in January this year. At the time, it was described by the EU’s foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas as “a clear escalation towards Ukraine and intended as a warning to the United States and Europe.”

Russia and Belarus conducted joint nuclear exercises on Monday, and Oreshnik missiles, which have the capacity to carry nuclear weapons, have been in place in Belarus for several months.

The Russian attack comes a day after President Vladimir Putin said Russia would avenge the alleged attack on student housing in the occupied Luhansk region.