KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russia launched a massive drone and missile barrage targeting energy infrastructure across Ukraine on Monday, reportedly killing at least three people and causing power outages across the country.
The barrage of shelling began around midnight and continued past dawn, in what is believed to be Russia’s largest attack on Ukraine in recent weeks.
Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhali said on Monday morning that Russian forces had fired drones, cruise missiles and Kinzhal hypersonic ballistic missiles at 15 Ukrainian regions – more than half of the country’s territory.
“Energy infrastructure has again been targeted by Russian terrorists and, unfortunately, damage has been caused in many regions,” Shmykhal said, adding that Ukraine’s state power grid operator Ukrenergo had been forced to implement emergency power outages to stabilise the system.
He called on Ukraine’s allies to provide Kiev with long-range weapons and give it permission to use them against targets inside Russia.
“We need to destroy Russian missile launch sites to stop the barbaric shelling of Ukrainian cities,” Shmykhal said. “We are counting on the support of our allies and will definitely retaliate against Russia.”
According to the Ukrainian Air Force, groups of Russian-made drones were seen moving towards eastern, northern, southern and central Ukraine, followed by several cruise and ballistic missiles.
Explosions were heard in the capital, Kiev, where Mayor Vitali Klitschko said the attack had cut off electricity and water supplies in the city.
Local authorities said at least three people were killed — one in the western city of Lutsk, one in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast in the centre and one in the partially occupied Zaporizhia Oblast in the southeast. Thirteen were injured — one in the Kiev Oblast surrounding the Ukrainian capital, five in Lutsk Oblast, three in Mykolaiv Oblast in the south and four in neighbouring Odessa Oblast.
Power outages and damage to civilian infrastructure and homes were reported across the country, from the Sumy region in the east to the Mykolaiv and Odessa regions in the south and the Rivne region in the west.
In the eastern region of Sumy, which borders Russia, local authorities said 194 settlements had lost power completely and 19 others had partial power outages.
Ukraine’s private energy company DTEK instituted emergency power outages and said in an online statement that “energy crews across the country are working around the clock to restore electricity to Ukrainians’ homes.”
In response to the barrage and power outages, local authorities across Ukraine were ordered to open “invincible points,” Shmyhali said — shelter-like locations where people could charge devices and get a drink during the blackout. Such points were first opened in Ukraine in the fall of 2022, when Russia targeted the country’s energy infrastructure with weekly barrages.
Neighbouring Poland’s military said Polish and NATO air defence forces had been activated in the country’s east as a result of the attack.
Meanwhile in Russia, officials reported that Ukrainian drone attacks took place overnight and again on Monday morning.
In the Saratov region of central Russia, drones crashed into homes in two cities, injuring four people. According to local authorities, one drone hit a high-rise apartment building in the city of Saratov, and the other hit a home in the military airfield city of Engels, which has previously come under attack.
The Russian Defense Ministry announced that a total of 22 Ukrainian drones were intercepted over eight Russian regions, including the Saratov and Yaroslavl oblasts in central Russia, throughout the night and morning.
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