KYIV: Russia unleashed its largest wave of airstrikes on Ukraine in almost three months on Sunday, 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 Donald Trump, whose pledge to end the war without saying how has raised the prospect of a looming push to hold negotiations.
“Russia launched one of the largest air attacks: drones and missiles against peaceful cities, sleeping civilians, critical infrastructure,” Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha wrote on X.
Air defences could be heard engaging drones over the capital in the night, and a series of powerful blasts rang out across the city centre as the missile attack was under way in the morning.
There was no immediate comment from Russia.
“Severe damage to Ukraine’s energy system, including to DTEK power stations. These attacks again highlight Ukraine’s need for additional air defence systems from our allies,” said Maxim Timchenko, CEO of DTEK which is 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. President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said the “massive combined attack targeted all regions of Ukraine”.
NATO member Poland, which borders Ukraine to the west, said it had scrambled its air force inside its airspace as a security precaution during the attack, which it said used cruise missiles, ballistic missiles and drones. Russia’s onslaught piles more pressure on Ukraine as Moscow’s troops notch up their fastest battlefield gains in the east since 2022.