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Ukraine Says it Downs Drones Over Kyiv, Debris Sets Shop Ablaze

Investigators inspect the damage after a missile strike in Sloviansk, Donetsk region, Ukraine, 27 March 2023. (EPA)
Investigators inspect the damage after a missile strike in Sloviansk, Donetsk region, Ukraine, 27 March 2023. (EPA)
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Ukraine Says it Downs Drones Over Kyiv, Debris Sets Shop Ablaze

Investigators inspect the damage after a missile strike in Sloviansk, Donetsk region, Ukraine, 27 March 2023. (EPA)
Investigators inspect the damage after a missile strike in Sloviansk, Donetsk region, Ukraine, 27 March 2023. (EPA)

Ukrainian authorities said air defenses shot down Russian drones near Kyiv on Monday and falling debris set a non-residential site ablaze, but no casualties were found.

Serhiy Popko, head of the Kyiv city military administration, said Russia had launched 12 drones towards Kyiv but Ukraine's air defense forces had identified and destroyed "all enemy targets" in the airspace around the capital.

The General Staff of Ukraine's Armed Forces said in its daily morning update that Russia launched a total of 15 Iranian-made Shahed drones overnight on Ukraine, with Ukrainian forces destroying 14 of them.

Drone wreckage fell in the western Kyiv district of Sviatoshyno, sparking a fire across a 200-square-meter (2100 sq foot) area in a non-residential building, he added.

"According to preliminary data there are no casualties at this time," Popko said in a Telegram post, though he added the information was being clarified.

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said on Telegram that a shop was set ablaze in Sviatoshyno but no casualties were found and the fire was contained.

Air raid alerts were declared across half the country's regions but the all clear was given for Kyiv after explosions rang out in the city.

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DHL Cargo Plane Crashes into a House in Lithuania, Killing at Least 1

A Lithuanian rescuer walks past the wreckage of a cargo plane following its crash near the Vilnius International Airport in Vilnius on November 25, 2024. (Photo by Petras MALUKAS / AFP)
A Lithuanian rescuer walks past the wreckage of a cargo plane following its crash near the Vilnius International Airport in Vilnius on November 25, 2024. (Photo by Petras MALUKAS / AFP)
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DHL Cargo Plane Crashes into a House in Lithuania, Killing at Least 1

A Lithuanian rescuer walks past the wreckage of a cargo plane following its crash near the Vilnius International Airport in Vilnius on November 25, 2024. (Photo by Petras MALUKAS / AFP)
A Lithuanian rescuer walks past the wreckage of a cargo plane following its crash near the Vilnius International Airport in Vilnius on November 25, 2024. (Photo by Petras MALUKAS / AFP)

A DHL cargo plane crashed into a house Monday morning near Lithuania's capital, killing at least one person.
The head of the country's police said the plane crashed shortly before landing at Vilnius airport.
“It fell a few kilometers before the airport, it just skidded for a few hundred meters, its debris somewhat caught a residential house," said Police Commissioner-General Renatas Požėla. "Residential infrastructure around the house was on fire, and the house was slightly damaged, but we managed to evacuate people.”
Lithuanian’s public broadcaster LRT, quoting an emergency official, said two people had been taken to the hospital after the crash, and one was later pronounced dead.
The Lithuanian airport authority identified the aircraft as a DHL cargo plane arriving from Leipzig, Germany. It posted on the social platform X that city services including a fire truck were on site.
Flight-tracking data from FlightRadar24, analyzed by The Associated Press, showed the aircraft made a turn to the north of the airport, lining up for landing, before crashing a little more than 1.5 kilometers (1 mile) short of the runway.
Authorities did not immediately offer a cause for the crash, which happened just before 5:30 a.m local time. Weather at the airport was around freezing temperature, with clouds before sunrise and winds around 30 kph (18 mph).
DHL Group, headquartered in Bonn, Germany, did not immediately return a call for comment.
The DHL aircraft was operated by Swiftair, a Madrid-based contractor. The carrier could not be immediately reached.
The Boeing 737 was 31 years old, which is considered by experts to be an older airframe, though that’s not unusual for cargo flights.