Ukraine has begun the year 2025 under a massive attack by Russian drones launched this Wednesday at seven in the morning towards several regions of the country, but mainly kyiv, which has suffered the most significant damage. The districts of Sviatoshin and Pecherski have been hit, the latter in the heart of the city, where two deaths have been recorded so far – one of them a pregnant woman – and seven injured, three of whom have been hospitalized, in addition to numerous material damage, according to the head of the Military Administration of the kyiv Region, Timur Pkachenko. Rescue work continues. “Even in the New Year, Russia is only concerned about how to hurt Ukraine,” President Volodymyr Zelensky has condemned on his social networks.
Around seven in the morning, kyiv’s sirens began to sound due to the approach of enemy attack drones from the northeast. In the following minutes, numerous explosions were heard in a row; From the central neighborhood of Olimpiska, adjacent to Pecherski, at least eight could be seen. Four of the drones were directed against this district. According to the Ministry of Defense, in those early hours of the morning, 63 of the 111 devices launched throughout the country could be intercepted by the Ukrainian air defenses, while the location of another 46 has been lost. The personal and material damage was caused by the impact of the remains of the intercepted drones.
The Russian attack on kyiv is especially significant because it has hit a district that houses numerous government offices, including the president’s office and Parliament. The headquarters of the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) is also located here, the roof and upper floor of which have caught fire. “All BNU operating systems and services are in operation,” the bank said in a subsequent statement.
Three floors of a residential building have also been partially destroyed by falling debris from the downed drones. Among the rubble is where emergency services have found the body of one of the two fatalities of the attack, the pregnant woman. This property is located 200 meters from Zelensky’s office. Another non-residential building has also suffered damage to its roof.
The injured treated in Pecherski are men and women between 29 and 79 years old who have shrapnel wounds, bruises on their bodies and acute anxiety symptoms. One of them is also pregnant. By midday, at least a dozen emergency and rescue vehicles, including six fire trucks, remained in the vicinity, as well as a heavy police presence. One of the agents has reported that access is dangerous because there are still active fires and that possible victims are still being searched among the rubble.
This neighborhood has been heavily protected since the beginning of the Russian invasion, in February 2022. Surrounded by military checkpoints, access is usually only allowed to residents and workers in the area.
At midday, very few people were entering and leaving through the military checkpoint in Pecherski. One of them is Maria, an employee in a neighborhood business even on New Year’s Day. He was about to leave the subway when the explosions occurred. “The ground shook and I heard the sound of broken glass falling,” he said later. Oksana, a psychologist and owner of an apartment on one of the affected streets, was relieved because her property had not been damaged.
On the other hand, material damage has also been reported due to the fall of debris from downed drones in the Sviatoshin district, in the west of the capital. A fire broke out in a non-residential building, and the tram tracks were partially affected. The shock wave has also broken numerous windows. When the residents of one of the buildings came out, the glass fell on them, but caused no injuries. “We ran to the door and suddenly there was a knock,” a mother who was saved with her three-month-old son told Ukrainian television.
Russia has not reduced its attacks on Ukraine over Christmas. On December 25, the invaded country was attacked with 78 missiles and 106 drones targeting the country’s energy system. Five days earlier, another missile attack in kyiv left one dead and 13 injured.
The new barrage of drones has taken place practically on the same day that Ukraine has cut off the supply of Russian gas to Europe through its pipeline network, after not renewing the agreement it had for five years with the state operator Gazprom. . Furthermore, on the night of December 31, President Zelensky highlighted in his New Year’s message to the nation that Ukraine will be part of NATO, something that Russia flatly rejects. “Ukraine will be in the European Union. And one day Ukraine will be in NATO and will strengthen the Alliance,” he noted.
