INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
A missile targeted Kyiv on Saturday without causing casualties but ending nearly two months of relative calm in the Ukrainian capital, while
frontline regions fended off waves of drone attacks overnight.Ukrainian officials also hailed the anniversary of the recapture of Kherson
city, the regional capital liberated a year ago in the last major frontline shift.Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky praised Kherson as
a "city of hope" while regretting "revenge" daily shelling by Russia."Just between yesterday evening and this morning, [Russia launched]
almost 40 drones and rockets..
Ballistic attacks against Kyiv, drones, and rockets against Odesa, the Kharkiv region," he said.Ukraine has been bracing for a renewed
aerial onslaught this winter, after systematic strikes on the country's energy grid left thousands without heating or electricity in
freezing temperatures last winter.A missile targeted Kyiv "after a long pause of 52 days," said the head of the Kyiv city military
administration Serhii Popko.AFP journalists in central Kyiv had heard two strong explosions and saw trails in the sky at dawn.Air sirens had
The falling debris wounded seven people, including a child.Drone attacksTwo missiles hit a field between two settlements in the wider Kyiv
region, damaging five private homes, said regional military administration chief Ruslan Kravchenko said.The air force said it downed 19 of
the 31 attack drones launched by Moscow between Friday evening and Saturday 03:00 a.m."The Russian occupants sent most of the attack UAVs to
the frontline areas," it said.It added that Russia fired several missiles overnight, but did not specify if any were downed.On Saturday, two
men were killed in the northeast region of Sumy in an unspecified Russian attack, according to the prosecutor general's office.Two missiles
also hit Odesa, wounding three people including a 96-year-old woman who was hospitalized.Ukrainians have worried that Russia may pick up its
campaign of strikes on energy infrastructures and warned Kyiv would strike back on Russian oil and gas infrastructure.Energy Minister German
Galushchenko said it "would be fair" to target Russia's oil and gas infrastructure if Ukraine's power grid came under sustained attacks, in
Ukraine had deployed more defense systems.'City of hope'Zelensky also praised his country's resilience in a message congratulating residents
adding, "when we are united
And when we unite others."Ukrainian forces liberated the southern city of Kherson last November, routing Russian troops in an embarrassing
defeat for the Kremlin.Russian forces based across the river from Kherson city still control swathes of territory and shell towns and
villages they retreated from.Two people died in Kherson and eight others were wounded over the past day, governor Oleksandr Prokudin
said.Russian troops also struck the central part of Kherson in the afternoon, wounding two people, the regional administration said.On the
ground, Ukrainian forces are facing assaults from Russian troops around the eastern frontline town of Avdiivka."Our servicemen and women are
this week they were bracing for a third wave of attacks from Russian forces, which began storming Avdiivka about a month ago.Further north
in the city of Toretsk, two elderly people died "probably as a result of artillery fire," according to Ukraine's Prosecutor General.
