Kyiv hit early Friday in Russian drone attack

Emergency staff work at an apartment building damaged during a Russian drone strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Dec. 22, 2023. [Reuters]

The Ukrainian capital of Kyiv was attacked by a barrage of Russian drones early Friday morning, officials said, injuring at least two people, in the sixth drone attack on the city this month.

Mayor Vitali Klitschko and other officials reported strikes on separate residential districts.

The mayor added that a drone had hit a block of apartments in the Solomyanskyi district, causing a fire.

"The upper floors are in flames. Emergency crews are on site," Klitschko said.

Apartment buildings were also damaged in other parts of the city.

On Thursday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said there were indications that Russia's military planning and action were slowing down.

"We will continue to support their slowdown," Zelenskyy said in his nightly video address.

Also Thursday, Russian bombs hit near two coal mines in the town of Toretsk in the Donetsk region, killing three and wounding at least five civilians, Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said.

Ukraine's military said earlier Thursday that Russian forces had attacked multiple regions overnight, using 35 drones.

The Ukrainian Air Force said the country's air defenses had shot down all but one of the drones, including over Kyiv, Dnipropetrovsk, Kherson, Mykolaiv, Chernihiv and other areas.

There were no reports of casualties or damage on the ground.

In the southern city of Nikopol, in the Dnipropetrovsk region, officials said Russian shelling killed two people.

Regional Governor Serhiy Lysak said on social media that an 86-year-old man had been taken to the hospital. He also said the Russian shelling had damaged several homes and farm buildings.