Explosions, bursts of flame and screams: ‘Kamikaze’ drones rain down on Kyiv | Ukraine

Met flew like a kite in the harsh wind. Harmless enough to the uneducated eye. A steep drop, a small triangle in the sky. Then there was the noise. At first it resembled that of a moped, but then it became more like the full-throat roar of a motorcycle when a kamikaze drone came within sight.

One of 28 missiles fired Monday morning targeting areas around Kyiv’s central railway station and elsewhere in the Ukrainian capital. When the dark gray triangle swept with undisputed grace over the skyscrapers of cloudless pale blue skies, several people saw it and fled and scattered to find hiding places. rice field.

Others stood facing upwards. Even as the menacing outlines of his Iranian-made Shahed-131, which bears no resemblance to a miniature fighter, became more and more evident, it was held in place.

A certain sense of fatalism took over as the drone hovered overhead and veered here and there. Surreal yet bewitching stillness. Grim-faced soldiers and armed police then broke the spell, vainly firing AK-47s in that direction. For some, it was the intense fire that first made them aware of the mortal danger.

The question on everyone’s mind was which way to turn this time, where was it going? The drone was then fixed on the target. where were you pointing? It turned in the air, wing tilted to the right, and plummeted down. It’s faster, it’s a swallow, not a kite. In less than 5 seconds, booms of explosions, bursts of flame scream from those approaching their final destination. Thick gray smoke rose from the unfortunate place. Relief for some meant terror for others.

This was the fifth successful attack on the Ukrainian capital at 8:21 am on Monday.

At 6:37 a.m., the first hit a building close to Kyiv Central Station, just 200 meters from the main entrance, the pink of the dawn sun appeared over the city horizon, the assembly surrounded by a hotel engulfed in flames. illuminated the house.

Then another overt machine gun explosion was followed by another brutal explosion at 6:45 am. Then, at 6:59 am, there was an even more exciting boom. Massive fires broke out on the streets of Kyiv. And then another strike at 7:30 am. To those around the station, it seemed constant. The minutes between explosions disappeared.

People passing through the station ran into the underpass between the platforms. There, they tried to distract the toddler with things they needed, such as toy cars and pebbles. Watch this and think of nothing else. Couple hugging. A prayer was spoken. The old lady I helped sit on the concrete steps trembled uncontrollably. She was panicking outside. Men climbed over fences, women grabbed children and bags, and corrosive fumes filled the air. At one scene, witnesses said they heard cries for help.

Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko said among the three dead were Bodan and Victoria, 34, who were six months pregnant with the couple’s first child. “In the city of Kyiv he had five explosions,” Klitschko told media gathered at the site of one of the attacks. “Remaining drones have been shot down by our forces. Destruction is visible in the historic part of the city. Unfortunately, some were injured and some died. I have.”

The mayor said the substation appeared to be the target, but the victims were civilians.

“Russians want to leave the city of Kyiv without heating. Without electricity,” he said. “They want to cause a humanitarian disaster in Kiev. The Russians want the people of Kyiv to die without heat and electricity. The Russians are destroying our energy system.” Not only is it destroying our country.”

Photos later emerged of a body bag being removed by rescuers from Zhylyanska Street in Kyiv’s business district, four blocks south of the station.

Anton Gerashchenko, an adviser to the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine and an ally of the president, Volodymyr Zelensky, poses with armed police officers and a destroyed drone casing that he said was shot down that morning. took the

“Now you know how to shoot down a Shahed drone,” he said in a video posted to Telegram. “If you hear drones and you have your own weapon, you can and must shoot even a hunting rifle.”