Russia has launched drone attacks on Kyiv and southern Ukraine, injuring at least one civilian and damaging a gas pipeline and residential buildings in the river and sea port of Mykolaiv, Ukraine's military says.
Ukraine's Air Force said on the Telegram messaging app its air defence systems destroyed 40 out of 45 Russia-launched Shahed attack drones overnight.
"The air alert in the capital lasted almost two hours," Serhiy Popko, the head of Kyiv's military administration, said on Telegram on Sunday.
He added that over Kyiv all the drones were downed on their approach. According to preliminary information, there were no casualties nor destruction in or near the capital. Skies over Kyiv were declared clear soon before 4am local time.
Ukraine's southern military command said on Telegram its air defence systems were engaged for more than five hours and destroyed 26 Russia-launched Shahed drones over several southern regions, chiefly over the Mykolaiv region near the Black Sea.
At least one civilian was injured in the southern Ukraine attack, the military said.
"The priority for the enemy was again the coastal strip of infrastructure and agro-industrial facilities," the military said.
Falling debris from a downed drone and the blast wave damaged residential buildings and a gas pipeline in Mykolaiv, the military command said.
Four drones were downed over the Black Sea port of Odesa, the military said.
Meanwhile Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy appointed Oleksandr Pavliuk, former first deputy defence minister, as the new commander of Ukraine's ground forces, according to a decree published on Sunday.
Pavliuk, a lieutenant-general who served in the ministry role for a year, replaces Colonel General Oleksandr Syrskyi after he was tapped this week as commander of Ukraine's armed forces.
On Saturday, Zelenskiy announced five other senior military appointments, filling out a rebooted team to bolster Ukraine's defence against Russia's nearly two-year-old invasion.
