Russia yesterday unleashed its largest wave of airstrikes on Ukraine in almost three months, firing 120 missiles and 90 drones in a sweeping attack that killed at least seven people and caused “severe damage” to the power system, officials said.
Ukrainians have been bracing for weeks for an attack on the hobbled energy system, fearing crippling damage that would cause long blackouts as winter sets in and ramp up psychological pressure at a critical moment in the war launched by Russia in February 2022.
The strikes, which prompted emergency power cuts in numerous regions, came after this month’s US presidential election victory of former US president Donald Trump, whose pledge to end the war without saying how has raised the prospect of a looming push to hold negotiations.
Photo: EPA-EFE
“Russia launched one of the largest air attacks: drones and missiles against peaceful cities, sleeping civilians, critical infrastructure,” Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs Andrii Sybiha wrote on X.
Air defenses could be heard engaging drones over the capital in the night, and a series of powerful blasts rang out across the city center as the missile attack was under way in the morning.
Kyiv’s air force said the military had destroyed 104 out of 120 missiles fired and 42 out of 90 drones launched by Russia.
Photo: State Emergency Service of Ukraine via EPA-EFE
The Russian Ministry of Defense said it had launched a massive strike on energy facilities that supply Ukraine’s military-industrial complex.
“Severe damage to Ukraine’s energy system, including to DTEK power stations. These attacks again highlight Ukraine’s need for additional air defense systems from our allies,” said Maxim Timchenko, CEO of DTEK, Ukraine’s largest private energy provider.
Officials confirmed damage to “critical infrastructure” or reported power cuts in regions spanning from Volyn, Rivne, Lviv in the west to the southeastern Dnipropetrovsk and Zaporizhzhia regions. DTEK imposed emergency power cuts in the southern Odesa region at the order of energy officials.
Photo: Reuters
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said the “massive combined attack targeted all regions of Ukraine.”
Russian missiles and drones also struck Transcarpathia, a rarely targeted western region far from the front line on the border with Poland and Hungary, without causing any casualties.
That prompted NATO member Poland to scramble fighter jets and mobilize all available forces yesterday as a security precaution during the attack, which it said used cruise missiles, ballistic missiles and drones.
Additional reporting by AFP
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