Kyiv residents reported seeing Russian Shahed drones on January 26, with at least one drone flying over the city center and then the Left Bank. Minutes later, additional UAVs were sighted, with observers noting the aircraft might have been equipped with a video camera and controlled via Starlink. How did a Russian drone reach the Ukrainian capital—flying at least 200 kilometers from the Russian border or about 100 kilometers from Belarus?
The drone reached central Kyiv because it flew at an ultra-low altitude, which does not necessarily indicate a failure of air defenses, said Ukrainian Armed Forces veteran and former M2 Bradley company commander Nikolai Melnyk on the Novyny. Live channel. He said the UAV was detected only visually, not by instruments, because it was flying at roughly 100 meters.
Melnyk’s comments came around 2 p.m., in response to a question about how a Shahed could move freely over downtown Kyiv and whether “air defenses weren’t working.” “It did not cross the 100-meter mark above ground during the flight along its entire route,” he said.
At the same time, he called it a new threat because the UAV was not detected in time. The Shahed evaded radar along its approach to Kyiv and bypassed mobile fire groups. “If it passed that way and no one reported it along the route, then the Russians likely have information about our air-defense posts as well as mobile fire groups. If that happened, it’s very bad news—because it means they knew where our air-defense crews were,” Melnyk said.
Around 2 p.m. on January 26, Kyiv residents posted footage of a Russian Shahed flying over the capital. Later, officials clarified there were three UAVs, and the Air Force issued an alert. According to social media reports, drones were spotted over the city center and then over the Left Bank and other parts of Kyiv and the region, including Darnytsia, Boryspil, Solomianskyi, Vydubychi, Zhulyany, Vyshneve, and Pechersk. Around 3 p.m., a drone was recorded near Kyiv’s CHP-5 power plant, according to a monitoring channel.
On January 25, serviceman and Defense Ministry adviser Serhii “Flash” Beskrestnov said Russia is striking Ukrainian air bases with drones connected to Starlink. He cited Russian-released footage of a strike on a training ground near Kropyvnytskyi that likely hit two helicopters, with the approach and impact streamed live. He argued Starlink use is indicated by the absence of other UAVs nearby that could have formed a mesh network for a long-range control link.
