Russian drones attack Kiev and Odessa hours before the NATO summit

KIEV (Reuters) – Russia fired 28 kamikaze drones into the southern port of Odessa and Kiev in the early hours of Tuesday, Ukraine’s military said, just hours before a NATO summit in Lithuania will focus on how to deal with the security situation. Threats from Moscow.

The Ukrainian Air Force said that its air defense systems shot down 26 of the Iranian-made Shahed aircraft launched by Russia. The local governor said that 22 fell over Odessa and two drones hit an administrative building in the port.

Governor Oleh Kuiper said on messaging app Telegram that the fire broke out in a pillory and another dock near the port of Odessa, was quickly put out and caused “significant damage” or injuries.

The military said all drones sent towards Kiev were intercepted, but the wreckage damaged a number of homes in the area.

Serhiy Popko, the head of the Kiev military department, said in a post on his Telegram channel, “The enemy attacked Kiev from the air for the second time this month.

Reuters witnesses in the Ukrainian capital heard explosions similar to the sound of air defense systems intercepting targets during the air strike.

In the Kiev region surrounding the capital, 12 residential homes and one multi-storey building sustained minor damage from falling debris, the military commander of the region, Ruslan Kravchenko, said on his Facebook page.

No injuries were reported.

The fallout from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine will dominate the Vilnius summit, which begins on Tuesday, as leaders are set to agree on NATO’s first comprehensive plans since the end of the Cold War to defend against an attack from Moscow.

Russia has rebuked the alliance and its main power, the United States, for their support of Ukraine and warned that Kiev’s potential membership in NATO would be met with a “clear and firm” response.

Russia’s invasion of its neighbor, now in its fiftieth day with no end in sight, has killed thousands, displaced millions and reduced many cities in eastern and southern Ukraine to piles of rubble.

Additional reporting by Lydia Kelly in Melbourne. Written by Lydia Kelly. Editing by Himani Sarkar and Simon Cameron-Moore

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