Kyiv police praised for shooting down drone, but officials say leave air defence to military
More than 2 dozen explosive drones targeted Ukraine's capital on Monday
When three Kyiv police officers normally tasked with patrolling the Ukrainian capital's streets heard the menacing buzz of a drone overhead early Monday morning, they quickly pulled out their AK-74 assault rifles and started rapidly firing dozens of rounds of ammunition into the sky.
"It was very fast. We didn't have such a lot of time to make a decision, so we decided to shoot," said Oleksandr Kravchuk, a five-year veteran of the city's police force.
The officers told CBC News that they were finishing up their night shift on Monday morning when they got a call telling them the capital was under attack.
Kravchuk said they then heard two explosions nearby and decided to block off a road near one of the sites, because people would soon be on their way to work.
As the officers were stationed on a bridge, Kravchuk said they all started to hear what sounded like a "moped" racing through the sky.
It was an Iranian-made Shahed 136 drone, and according to Kyiv's mayor, it was one of 28 that targeted the capital on Monday.
The triangular-shaped drones, which are often described as "kamikaze" or "suicide" drones, are designed to drive toward their target and explode on impact.
In Monday's attack, one slammed into a highrise apartment building in the city centre, killing at least four people.
Kravchuk said he estimated the low-flying drone was about 500 metres away when the officers first heard it and about 200 metres away when they began shooting.
He said they aimed their high-powered weapons just ahead of the drone, trying to estimate the speed that it was travelling.
'No one was injured. So it was only happiness'
Kravchuk said he emptied his 30 rounds of ammunition before they saw the drone plummet toward the ground.
As it exploded, the officer said he felt the earth shake.
"It was a lot of adrenalin," he said. "I had a very good feeling that we dropped it down."
The officers later saw a chunk of the drone they took down. Scrawled across it in black marker, the phrase "for Belgorod" was written.
Belgorod is a Russian region that borders Ukraine and is a key staging area for the country's military. The region has come under fire before, and on Sunday officials said at least three people were injured after blasts near an airport.
Ukrainian officials say the majority of drones were destroyed before they reached their targets on Monday.
While it is difficult to verify that claim, dramatic footage of the police shooting down the drone has been released by the Kyiv police department's press service.
The sequence was recorded on a body camera worn by one of the officers and what appears to be a nearby security camera.
Yaroslav Veletnik, who wore the camera that recorded the footage, said that after the explosion, the officers started to run away from the blast site.
A few cars had been destroyed, so the police checked to see if anyone was hurt.
"No one was injured," Veletnik told CBC News. "So it was only happiness."
Appeal to citizens
While the officers are being praised by members of the public for their quick action in shooting down the drone, Ukrainian officials are urging citizens not to try it themselves.
When Russian troops rolled into Ukraine in February, thousands of weapons were handed out to citizens willing to defend the country.
But officials are now urging residents not to attempt to shoot down the drones and to leave the task up to the military and the air defence crew.
On Ukrainian television, Minister of Internal Affairs Denys Monastyrsky said, "I want to appeal to the townspeople, to those who own weapons. Do not shoot with a pistol or carbine" at drones. "This can lead to injury, to more trouble."
Kravchuk, the police officer, said he believes it was appropriate for the police to shoot down the drone in this case, but he added that it should never be attempted by civilians.
"The bullets fly a very long distance and they can shoot somebody," he said.
The government has said that Monday's attacks, which came exactly one week after more than 80 missiles rained down on Ukraine, are an example of why NATO allies need to send the country air defence systems.
Iran issues denials
Ukrainian Foreign Affairs Minister Dmytro Kuleba said on Tuesday he was urging President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to cut ties with Iran for supplying Russia with the drones.
Iran has denied these claims, but Kuleba said there is plenty of evidence.
Ukraine contends that Russia purchased 2,400 drones and then rebranded them.
Officials say more than 100 of them targeted the country within the last week.
"Tehran bears full responsibility for the destruction of relations with Ukraine," Kuleba told a news conference.
The United States has accused Iran of lying about the drones, and several European Union ministers have called for Iran to be further sanctioned.
When asked about the weapons on Tuesday, a Kremlin spokesperson said that "only Russian equipment is being used."
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
With files from Corinne Seminoff, Halyna Yakushko and Reuters