I want Putin to die, says Kyiv resident after new round of drone attacks

Kyiv — Ukrainian forces shot down 13 drones on Wednesday, officials said, as Russia launched its first major drone attack on the capital, Kyiv, in weeks and the US considered sending its advanced Patriot air defence system to help Ukraine.

Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko said explosions rocked the city’s central Shevchenkivskyi district and two administrative buildings were damaged. An air raid alert was lifted three hours after it began.

In one Kyiv district, residents said they heard the sound of an Iranian Shahed drone — known as “mopeds” by Ukrainians because of the loud whirring of their engines — followed by a powerful explosion at a building next to their homes.

“I heard everything — I heard the buzzing ‘moped’ and I ran into the bathroom,” said Yana, who had been getting ready for work. “I want this all to be over ... for [Russian President Vladimir] Putin, that bastard, to die. Those are the only emotions.”

One attack appeared to have ripped through a chunk of the roof of a nearby walled-off brick building. It was unclear what the building was used for.

Some of the windows of nearby residential buildings were smashed. Bits of the roof were strewn in the snow along with other debris. Shocked residents, wrapped up against the cold, inspected the damage. They said no-one appeared to have been hurt.

The white tail of a drone could be seen in the wreckage. It had M529 Geran-2 written on it and a handwritten message “For Ryazan!!!”, an apparent reference to what Moscow says was a Ukrainian attack on an airstrip deep inside Russia this month.

Russia, which invaded Ukraine on February 24, has unleashed barrages of missile attacks on energy infrastructure since October. Ukraine’s grid operator said energy facilities had not suffered any damage in Wednesday’s attack.

Ukrainian air force spokesperson Yuriy Ihnat said the attack was deliberately timed for when it was dark to make it harder to shoot the drones down. “The air defences worked well,” he said. “Thirteen [drones] were shot down.”

“Well done, I am proud,” President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a brief video message praising the air defence systems.

Ukraine has already received air defence systems from the West, including from the US. Washington officials told Reuters an announcement on a decision on providing the Patriot system, which  is considered one of the most advanced, could come as soon as Thursday. The Patriot is usually in short supply, with allies around the world vying for it.

The Kremlin said on Wednesday that US Patriot missile defence systems would be a legitimate target for Russian strikes against Ukraine if Washington authorised their delivery to Kyiv.

The Patriot system would help Ukraine defend against the waves of Russian missile and drone attacks that have pounded the country’s energy infrastructure.

The morning report of the general staff of Ukraine’s armed forces highlighted the importance of air defence systems. In the past 24 hours in the regions of Kharkiv, Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia “the enemy launched one air and 11 missile strikes, three of them on civilian infrastructure ... [and] launched more than 60 attacks from multiple rocket launchers”.

Russian shells hit the regional administration building on the central square of the recently liberated southern city of Kherson, the deputy head of Ukraine’s presidential office said.

Ukraine recaptured Kherson from Russian forces on November 11, prompting days of celebrations on the square by city residents. Russian forces have been shelling Kherson from the opposite side of the Dnipro River since leaving the city.

Gaining Patriot air defence capability would be “very, very significant” for the Kyiv government, said Alexander Vindman, a retired army lieutenant-colonel and one-time leader of Ukraine policy at the White House. “These are going to be quite capable of dealing with a lot of different challenges the Ukrainians have, especially if the Russians bring in short-range ballistic missiles” from Iran.

The Pentagon declined to comment. There was no immediate comment from Ukrainian officials.

Kyiv held high-level military talks on Tuesday with Washington, Zelensky’s office said. The US has given Ukraine $19.3bn in military assistance since Russia’s invasion.

Millions of civilians enduring Europe’s biggest conflict since World War 2 have had to contend with cuts to power, heat and water as sub-zero temperatures take hold.

In Paris, about 70 countries and institutions pledged just over €1bn to help maintain Ukraine’s water, food, energy, health and transport in the face of Russia’s attacks.

Sergey Kovalenko, the head of the Yasno power company, said on Facebook that repairs continued on the electricity grid but that Kyiv still only had two-thirds of the power it needed.

A US citizen was among dozens of detainees handed over to Ukraine in a prisoner exchange with Russia, the head of Ukraine’s presidential administration said on Wednesday. Andriy Yermak wrote on the Telegram messaging app that Suedi Murekezi had been “helping our people” before ending up in Russian custody.

Zelensky called on Russia this week to start withdrawing its troops from his country by Christmas as the first step towards a peace deal.

The Kremlin said on Wednesday it had not received any proposals about a “Christmas ceasefire” in Ukraine.

Reuters