Russia fires on Kyiv for first time in seven weeks

They reported Russia had also fired drones on the east and south of the country, and that Ukrainian border guards had retaken a village in the country’s northeast adjacent to the Russian border.

Officials in the east, the focus of Russia’s slow 20-month-old advance, said Ukrainian forces had repelled numerous attacks by Moscow’s troops and they anticipated further assaults, particularly around the devastated town of Avdiivka.

Serhiy Popko, head of the Kyiv city military administration, said a Russian ballistic missile was launched toward the capital late on Saturday (AEDT).

“After a long pause of 52 days, the enemy has resumed missile attacks on Kyiv,” Mr Popko said on the Telegram messaging app.

“The missile failed to reach Kyiv, air defenders shot it down as it was approaching the capital.”

Mr Popko said there were no casualties or major damage.

Ruslan Kravchenko, regional governor for the central Kyiv region, said five private houses and several commercial buildings in the area were damaged.

He said two Russian missiles struck a field between settlements.

Ukraine’s air defence also shot down 19 Iranian-made ‘Shahed’ drones out of 31 launched by the Russian forces overnight in southern and eastern regions, the air force said.

Ukrainian intelligence official Andriy Yusov told national television: “This is not the first or the last combined attack.”

He pointed to increasing numbers of air alerts in recent days.

Online video from Kharkiv region showed border guards raising the blue and yellow Ukrainian flag in Topoli village alongside the Russian border, without further explanation. Ukrainian forces a year ago made a lightning push to recapture large swathes of territory in the northeast and since June have been engaged in a counteroffensive in the east and south.

In the east, military spokesperson Oleskandr Shtupun said Ukrainian troops had repelled 35 Russian assaults in and near Avdiivka, which has been under intense fire since mid-October.

Mr Shtupun told national television that 70 per cent of air strikes in the east and south targeted Avdiivka.

Officials in Avdiivka say they anticipate a new Russian push on the city once the ground dries up from days of heavy rain.

Videos show buildings reduced to shells and officials say increasing numbers of the remaining 1,500 residents, from a pre-war population of 32,000, were preparing to evacuate.

In the Black Sea port of Odessa, regional governor Oleh Kiper said the southern region was attacked with missiles and drones late last week.

The strikes wounded three people and damaged port infrastructure facilities, he said.

Russia has intensified bombardments of Ukraine’s ports, including Odessa, and grain infrastructure since Moscow pulled out of a deal in July to allow exports from Ukrainian ports.

Russian accounts of the fighting said its forces had struck positions near Bakhmut, a town Moscow captured in May after months of heavy fighting.

– with Reuters