It's a way of saying that the war is going on in this corner of the world. Ukraine said it shot down a missile that targeted Kyiv on Saturday, ending nearly two months of relative calm for the capital, while regions near the front line were targeted by a wave of Russian attacks.
The salvo of strikes comes on the first anniversary of the Ukrainian army's liberation of Kherson. A date that also marks the last major evolution of the front, as Kiev's ambitious counter-offensive has since come up against impenetrable Russian defenses. President Volodymyr Zelensky on Saturday praised the "heroism" of the southern city as "synonymous with hope", regretting that Russia had this year "taken revenge" with the bombs of "Kherson freedom".
From Friday night to Saturday morning, "nearly 40 drones and missiles" were fired at Ukraine, he said. One of the missiles, which was aimed at Kyiv, was shot down on Saturday morning, according to local authorities.
52 days without an attack
"After a long pause of 52 days, the enemy has resumed its missile attacks on Kyiv!" the head of the military administration of the Ukrainian capital Sergei Popko said on the Telegram messenger. AFP journalists in the centre of the capital heard two loud explosions and saw streaks in the sky at dawn. Air raid sirens sounded soon after.
No casualties or material damage were reported, but two other missiles hit a field between two residential areas in the Kyiv region, the head of the regional military administration Ruslan Kravchenko said. Five apartment buildings were damaged, with roofs and windows shattered, he added.
Several drone attacks
The rest of Ukraine has not been spared from the attacks. In total, the military said it had shot down 19 Iranian-made Shahed drones, out of the 31 sent to its territory.
In the Sumy region, two men were killed on Saturday in a Russian attack whose circumstances were not specified, according to the Prosecutor General's Office. Farther east, two elderly people died "probably due to artillery fire" in Toretsk, a city in the Donetsk region, he said. In the south, in the Odessa region, three people were wounded by a Russian strike, according to the local governor, Oleg Kiper.
The attacks also hit port infrastructure, which is important for Ukraine's exports and therefore Moscow's preferred targets, he said.
Ukraine fears an upsurge in attacks with the arrival of cold weather. Last winter, Russia pounded Ukraine's energy grid, leaving thousands without heat or electricity.