Russia early Sunday damaged a major government building in central Kyiv for the first time since it launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
The Cabinet of Ministers building, where Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko has her offices, was struck by a drone or debris from drone.
No one was injured.
Video showed flames and smoke coming from the two highest floors of the tall structure and significant damage inside after the fire was extinguished.
The Ukrainian Defense Ministry said Russia that night launched a record 805 explosive and decoy drones at Ukraine along with 17 ballistic and cruise missiles, of which nearly 60 drones and nine missiles evaded defenses and made impact.
Five people were killed across the country, including a woman and her infant child in a Kyiv apartment building.
Ukraine heavily protects central Kyiv, chiefly with US-made Patriot air defense batteries.
Kyiv Mayor Vitaly Klitschko said debris from an intercepted drone hit the Cabinet of Ministers building, although it is possible that Russia targeted it specifically.
A Russian drone in the early hours of 29 August severely damaged the European Union offices in central Kyiv some distance away from major Ukrainian government buildings in what almost certainly was a targeted attack. The EU said two missiles hit within 50 meters of the building within 20 seconds. No one was injured owing to the early hour.
About the same time, windows of the building of the nearby British Council, a cultural group sponsored by the British government, were shattered from falling drone or air defense debris.
In another targeted attack, two Russian missiles early on 21 August struck a factory owned by major US-Singaporean electronics manufacturer Flex Ltd. in a city 31 miles from the Hungarian border, injuring 15 employees and severely damaging the facility.
The city, Mukachevo, had not previously been struck by Russian missiles or drones.
The 55,000-square-meter Flex plant employs 2,600 people.
Prompted by air attack alerts, most of the 800 workers on night shift were in on-site, concrete shelters when the missiles struck, minimizing casualties.
Photos showed a large segment of the plant in ruins amid billowing, black smoke from a massive fire.
President Volodymyr Zelensky said the plant produced consumer products and had no military connections.
Russia beginning this May began staging missile and drone attacks of unprecedented size on Kyiv and other cities hundreds of miles from the front line of the war in southern and eastern Ukraine.
In July, Russia launched a monthly record of 6,443 drones and missiles at Ukraine, 13 percent more than in June. The total in August was somewhat less but still alarmingly high.
The current intensity of Russian air attacks would have been unimaginable in the first two years of the war.
The West is due to supply a few more Patriot systems that are Ukraine’s only tool for downing advanced missiles, but they will not be a game changer in air defense.
Personnel should avoid Ukraine entirely.
