Explosions resonated on Thursday for about 15 to 20 minutes in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv, which had already seen a series of overnight Russian attacks.
AFP journalists saw a drone that air defence was attempting to shoot down, while the Kyiv city military administration said “air defence is at work.”
The explosions stopped after about 15 to 20 minutes.
Journalists saw a cloud of black smoke in the air, just as the Kyiv city military administration announced the air raid alert was over.
“The enemy drone was shot down,” said presidential chief of staff Andriy Yermak.
Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko said “firefighters put out a fire on the ground floor of a four-storey shopping centre” in the Solomyansky district.
The fire spread over 50 square metres (538 square feet) and caused some superficial damage but no victims were reported, Klitschko said.
The alerts came after Kyiv saw another wave of Russian attacks in the night between Wednesday and Thursday.
On Thursday morning, Sergiy Popko, the head of Kyiv’s military administration, said “our city has not experienced such intensity of strikes since the beginning of this year.”
Popko then said it was the third day of attempted strikes on Kyiv in May.
