May 28, 2023 Russia-Ukraine news

A wave of Russian drone attacks on the Ukrainian capital left one person dead and sparked fires around the city, officials in Kyiv said early Sunday.

Kyiv’s Mayor Vitali Klitchsko said Ukrainian air defense forces had “already intercepted more than 20 UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles)” heading toward the capital and warned that “a new wave of drones is on its way.”

The Ukrainian Air Force said that 54 Iranian Shahed drones had been launched by Russia overnight and that 52 of them had been destroyed by Ukrainian forces.

“The enemy launched another overnight attack on military facilities and critical infrastructure in the country’s central regions, specifically Kyiv Oblast. Near the zone Air Command ‘Center’, most of the attack drones were destroyed!” the air force said in a Twitter post.

The use of such a large number of drones may be an effort by Russia's army to overwhelm Ukraine's air defenses.

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Hundreds of German diplomats and state employees living and working in Russia have been expelled by Moscow and given just days to leave the country, a spokesperson from Germany's foreign ministry said in a statement.

Saturday's order is the latest in a series of tit-for-tat expulsions that began after Germany decided to kick out several Russian diplomats who had been accused of working for Russia's intelligence service. Russia responded by expelling 20 German diplomats in April.

The foreign ministry spokesperson said the latest order applies to German diplomats, state employees working in Russia and teachers at the government-sponsored Goethe Institute, which offers German language courses and cultural exchange programs. All must leave the country by June 1.

The statement called the latest move "unjustified" and "incomprehensible."

"This limit, set by Russia as of the beginning of June, requires a major cut in all areas of our presence in Russia," the statement read. "The Federal Government is now concerned to ensure a minimum presence of intermediaries in Russia while maintaining a diplomatic presence as well."

Russia has shot down 12 Ukrainian drones over various settlements over the course of 24 hours, according to the Russian Ministry of Defense.

The ministry's news service claims Russia's defenses shot down drones in the self-proclaimed Luhansk People’s Republic and Donetsk People’s Republic, and in Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia.

Russian air defense systems also intercepted two long-range "Storm Shadow" cruise missiles and 19 rockets from HIMARS multiple rocket launchers, it says.