An explosion, a burst of flames, then screams: ‘kamikaze’ drones rain down on Kyiv

Indiscriminate attacks by Russia on Ukraine's capital sow terror among civilian population

• Russia-Ukraine war: latest updates

It flew like a kite in a stern wind. Harmless enough to the unschooled eye. Swooping, a small triangle in the sky. Then there was the noise. Similar to that of moped at first but ever more like the full-throated roar of a motorbike as the kamikaze drone swept closer into view.

One of as many as 28 launched on Monday morning at targets around Kyiv's central railway station and elsewhere in Ukraine's capital; some people had fled at the sight of it, scattering to find cover, as the dark grey triangle swept with unarguable grace above the high-rise apartments in the cloudless pale blue sky.