Ukraine shoots down multiple drones over Kyiv

Dec. 14 (UPI) -- A series of explosions were heard in Kyiv on Wednesday during the first major drone attack on the Ukrainian capital in weeks.

Ukrainian Air Force spokesperson Yuriy Ihnat said that "the air defenses worked well," against the drones and that "thirteen were shot down." Rescue workers said there were no fatalities.

A strike damaged the regional administrative building of the recently liberated city of Kherson on Wednesday. Two floors were damaged but no one was injured, according to Kyrylo Tymoshenko, the deputy head of presidential office.

The latest strikes come amidst a prolonged assault on Ukraine's energy infrastructure which has left millions without power. The United Nations Children's Fund said nearly seven million Ukrainian children are in grave risk this winter as temperatures drop below minus 4.

The European Union awarded Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought on Wednesday. In a video address to the European Parliament Zelensky urged leaders to support a war crimes tribunal for high-ranking Russian officials "so that there will be no attempts to apply, again, the genocidal policy against our people, both in Ukraine and throughout Europe."

"The cities and villages destroyed by Russia, destroyed lives should be reflected in the sentences not only for those who directly committed all this but also for those who organized and started this aggression," Zelensky said.

A number of Russian prisoners were exchanged for 64 Ukrainians and one American, the head of President Zelensky's office, Andriy Yermak, said on Wednesday.

Yermak said the American, 35-year-old Suedi Mureksezi, had been "helping our people."