Russia on Saturday launched its largest drone attack against Ukraine’s capital of Kyiv since the start of its invasion, according to local officials.

Russia launched several waves of drone attacks on Kyiv yesterday overnight for the second night in a row, stepping up its assaults on the Ukrainian capital after several weeks of pause.

Four waves of drone attacks were reported in Russia from the early hours of Nov. 26, with the Russian Ministry of Defense claiming to have "downed" 24 drones across five regions, as well destroying two missiles over the Sea of Azov.

The Russian capital has come under attack from drones regularly since May, with Russian officials blaming Ukraine. Military analysts commented at the time that the early attacks deployed Ukrainian locally made drones which could not carry as heavy a payload as the Iranian-made Shaheds used by Russia.

Russia escalated its attacks on the Ukrainian capital after several weeks of halt, by launching several drone attacks on the Kyiv, Poltava and Cherkasy regions of Ukraine, Al Jazeera reported, citing Ukrainian officials.

Russian armed forces intercepted a large barrage of drones over Crimea, which forced the country to temporarily close the Kerch Strait bridge connecting the annexed peninsula to the Russian mainland.

The drones were reportedly shot down over ‘various regions’ of the country. KYIV: Ukraine’s military shot down 10 out of 17 attack drones launched overnight by Russia, Ukrainian authorities said today.

Russia attacked central and westernUkraine with 17 Shahed kamikaze drones, 10 of which were successfully downed by Ukrainian air defense, and eastern Ukraine with six S-300 missiles in the early hours of Dec.