Russia hits Kyiv with new ‘kamikaze’ drone attack

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said “kamikaze” drones caused five explosions that rocked the city in the early morning hours on Monday. One of them hit a residential building in the central Shevchenkivskyi District, the mayor said.

Kyrylo Tymoshenko, the deputy head of the Ukrainian president’s office, said 19 people were rescued from the building, but three have been confirmed dead. The rescue operation was ongoing, he said.

NBC News has not verified the reports.

Rescuers were working fast to clear out the rubble, looking for anyone missing after several floors appeared to have collapsed. The air was filled with a smell of fire and smoke, as well as dust from the rubble.

Speaking with NBC News at an intersection close to the damaged building, Kyiv resident Anna Frolova said the morning was off “to a horrible start” as she thought the Russians “had enough” with last week’s strikes on key infrastructure in her city. “It turns out they have not had enough, and now they are hitting residential buildings as well and people are dying. And this is scary,” said Frolova, 52.

“I feel fear, pain, anger and hate,” she added, vowing to stay in the capital despite the strikes. “Hate toward, I don’t know, these people who have allowed this to happen in the 21st century. This Medieval war.”

After the first round of air-raid sirens ended around 9:30 a.m. local time (2:30 a.m. E.T.), life seemed to have quickly returned to relative normality on what turned out to be a sunny, mild day. The city’s center was full of cars and people as the threat of another nosediving drone dissipated, only for the warnings to soon return.