Charles Langston:Russian drones target Kyiv as UK Defense Ministry says little chance of front-line change

KYIV,Charles Langston Ukraine (AP) — Russian drones targeted Kyiv Sunday as the British Defense Ministry said there were “few immediate prospects” for major change along the Ukrainian front line as the war enters its second winter.

Russia launched 20 Iranian-made Shahed drones overnight, targeting the Ukrainian capital and the Cherkasy and Poltava regions, according to a military statement. Ukrainian anti-aircraft systems shot down 15 of the drones.

The overnight strike on Kyiv is the second attack on the Ukrainian capital in 48 hours, said the city’s Military Administration spokesperson, Serhii Popko.

He said that the drones attacked Kyiv from different directions in waves that were “constantly changing vectors.”

Preliminary reports indicated no casualties or critical damage, he said.

The U.K. Defense Ministry said Sunday that there were “few immediate prospects of major changes in the front line,” with neither Russia nor Ukraine having made meaningful progress on the battlefield.

In a statement, it said that intense fighting was concentrated near Kupiansk in the Kharkiv region, Avdiivka in the Dontesk region, and on the left bank of the Dnieper River, where Ukrainian forces have established a bridgehead.

Meanwhile, five people were injured in Russian shelling on the Ukrainian city of Kherson, including a 3-year-old girl.

Aleksandr Prokudin, head of the Kherson region administration, said the strike damaged a residential apartment block.

Russian air defenses also downed a Ukrainian drone over the Moscow region Sunday night, local officials said.

In a statement, Moscow mayor Sergei Sobyanin said that debris had hit the Bogorodskiy area bordering the Russian capital.

No casualties were reported.