Ukraine downs 17 out of 22 Russia-launched drones, air force says

Ukrainian air defence systems shot down 17 out of 22 Russian drones over nine Ukrainian regions in an attackthat caused a fire in a residential building in the early hours of Monday, officials said.

No casualties were reported from the fire in the central city of Kryvyi Rih where emergency services were able to evacuate residents and disable a drone’s payload before it blew up, local authorities said.

In central Kirovohrad region, the attack damaged private industrial facilities and nearby residential buildings, but no one was reported hurt, Kirovohrad governor Andriy Raykovych said on the Telegram messenger.

Russia also launched seven missiles at targets in Ukraine overnight, the air force said in a statement on Telegram.

An overnight missile strike on eastern Kharkiv region damaged a fire station and injured one person, the state emergency service said.

It was not immediately clear what happened to the missiles and the drones that were not destroyed.