Air defence forces shoot down UAV over Kyiv, its fragments caused fire

Air defence forces have shot down an unmanned aerial vehicle in the sky over Kyiv.

Source: Air Force of Ukraine in a comment to Ukrainska Pravda; Serhii Popko, Head of Kyiv City Military Administration, on Telegram

Details: The Air Force has told Ukrainska Pravda that the air defence forces were targeting a UAV, which was eventually destroyed by mobile fire teams.

Quote from Popko: "During the last air-raid warning, an unmanned aerial vehicle was spotted over Kyiv. The target was shot down by air defence personnel and assets. There is no information on casualties or damage to housing or infrastructure. Information is being clarified."

У мережі з'явилося відео, як над Києвом збили дрон pic.twitter.com/2kQ1kvy2p0

— Українська правда ✌ (@ukrpravda_news) May 4, 2023

More details: The Kyiv City Military Administration has reported that fallen fragments of the shot-down UAV caused a fire in a non-residential building in the Solomianskyi district of Kyiv. 

The specialists of the State Emergency Service of Ukraine are working at the scene. Consequences are being clarified. 

Updated: Later, Vitalii Klitschko, the mayor of the capital, wrote on Telegram that, as a result of the fall of the UAV fragments, a small fire had occurred in the Pecherskyi district. The buildings are not damaged and there are no casualties.

As he states, the fire in a 4-storey building in the Solomianskyi district of the capital was contained.

At 21:43 Klitschko said that emergency workers had extinguished the fire on the ground floor of the four-storey building of the shopping centre in the Solomianskyi district, which had spread over an area of 50 square metres.

"As a result of the drone being shot down and the wreckage falling, the blast wave destroyed the decorative external elements of the building and glass over an area of up to 150 square metres. The supporting structures are not damaged. No casualties were reported," the mayor of the capital said.

Background: On the evening of 4 May, an air-raid warning was issued in Kyiv and Kyiv Oblast. At 20:13, residents of Kyiv started hearing numerous explosions and shots in the air. The Kyiv City Military Administration reported that the air defence forces were activated. In addition, the sound of an aircraft motor was heard in the city. 

At 20:33, the all-clear was given in Kyiv and the namesake oblast. 

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