At least 59 Shahed-136/131 kamikaze drones were fired towards Ukraine in the early hours of Sunday, with Ukrainian air forces successfully shooting down all but one of the UAVs, according to state media. 40 drones were intercepted in the capital city of Kyiv alone.
“This was the largest-ever drone attack on the capital since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, particularly using Shahed loitering munitions,” Ukrainian state media cited Serhii Popko, head of the Kyiv City Military Administration, as saying.
A 41-year old man was reportedly killed due to falling drone debris as a result of the attack on Kyiv.
At least 26 houses were damaged in Ukraine’s northwestern city of Zhytomyr as a result of the drone strikes, according to state media, also reporting damage to educational and healthcare facilities, but no casualties.
The Ukrainian president in a statement thanked his country’s air forces for their efforts in combating the UAVs, as well as the rescuers that rushed to the aid of those affected by the strikes.
The resolution, proposed by Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council, calls for the application of “sectoral special economic and other restrictive measures” on Iran for a period of 50 years. The Ukrainian parliament’s security committee is set to discuss the resolution on Monday.
"I think this is a step that we should have taken a long time ago. We will take it in the near future, and it will be synchronous with the actions that the entire civilized world has taken to date in order to completely isolate Iran from the opportunities it has for economic growth and maintaining the economic level," said Fedir Venislavskyi, a member of the security committee, during a telethon.
Iran has been accused of supplying Russia with drones for use against Ukraine, leading to a barrage of international sanctions and condemnations. Tehran has repeatedly denied involvement in the Russia-Ukraine war, but has admitted to supplying Moscow with drones before its invasion of Ukraine.
Zelensky on Wednesday slammed Iran for siding with the “evil” Russian state in its war on Ukraine and called on Iranians able to influence government decisions to refrain from siding with Moscow. In response, Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson Nasser Kanaani said the Ukrainian president’s comments were a “political show” echoing “baseless allegations” against Tehran.