Russia launched a massive drone and missile attack on Ukraine on Sunday, which officials said was the largest in months, targeting energy infrastructure and killing civilians.
The attack comes amid growing concerns about the Russian government’s intentions to destroy Ukraine’s power generation capacity ahead of the cold winter.
Ukraine Emergency Services via AP
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Russia launched a total of 120 missiles and 90 drones. Massive attacks across Ukraine. He said that in addition to the Iranian-made Shahed, various types of unmanned aircraft were deployed, including cruise ballistic missiles, ballistic missiles, and air-launched ballistic missiles.
President Zelenskyy said in a statement on the messaging app Telegram that the Ukrainian Defense Forces had shot down 140 air targets.
“The target of the enemy was our energy infrastructure throughout Ukraine. Unfortunately, damage to objects due to collisions and falling objects has occurred. As a result of a drone attack in Mykolaiv, two people were killed, including two children. Six people were injured,” Zelenskiy said.
The attack damaged energy infrastructure, disrupted electricity and water supplies and killed two other people in the Odesa region, local governor Ole Kipel said.
Oleksandr Gimanov/AFP via Getty Images
The combined drone and missile attack was the most powerful in three months, said Serhiy Popko, head of Kyiv’s military administration.
Russian attacks hit Ukraine’s power infrastructure the hardest since Moscow’s full-scale offensive Invasion of neighboring countries in February 2022causing repeated emergency power outages and nationwide rolling blackouts. Ukrainian officials have regularly urged Western allies to strengthen their air defenses to counter attacks and enable repairs.
Local reports said explosions were heard Sunday across Ukraine, including the capital Kiev, the main southern port of Odesa, and the western and central regions.
The Polish military’s operational command wrote in X that Polish and allied aircraft, including fighter jets, were in Polish airspace due to Russia’s “massive” attack on neighboring Ukraine. The measure was aimed at ensuring security in Poland’s border areas, the newspaper said.
One person was injured when the roof of a five-story house burst into flames in Kiev’s historic center, Popko said.
A thermal power plant operated by private energy company DTEK “suffered severe damage,” the company said in a statement.
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