Key Points
- Russian strikes targeted Ukraine’s energy infrastructure.
- More than 100 missiles and 100 drones struck Ukraine during peak hours on Monday.
- At least seven people were killed in these attacks.
Russia launched more than 100 missiles and around 100 attack drones into Ukraine, killing at least seven people and striking energy facilities across the country, officials said.
Power and water supply cuts were reported in many places, including parts of kyiv, as officials said the attack – two and a half years after the full-scale invasion began Russia-wide – targeted electricity or other critical infrastructure in at least 10 regions.
Russia significantly stepped up its strikes on Ukraine’s power grid in March, in what kyiv says looks like a concerted effort to degrade the system ahead of winter, when people need electricity most and heating.
Monday’s salvo of missiles and drones was Russia’s most intense in weeks, coming as Ukraine gains ground in a major cross-border incursion into Russia’s southern Kursk region, while Russian forces are gradually advancing in eastern Ukraine, approaching the transport center of Pokrovsk.
“It was one of the largest combined strikes. More than a hundred missiles of different types and a hundred Shahed drones. And like most previous Russian strikes, this one is just as sneaky, targeting infrastructure critical civilians,” said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. on Telegram.
According to Prime Minister Denys Chmyhal, 15 regions suffered damage. Zelenskyy said the energy sector had suffered “a lot of damage.”
The Interfax news agency cited the Russian Defense Ministry as saying on Monday that its forces used high-precision weapons to strike important energy infrastructure in Ukraine that it said supported the military-industrial complex.
The Polish military said its warplanes and those of its allies had been put on alert after the Russian missile and drone attack, which hit western regions of Ukraine bordering the EU member state. NATO.
At least seven of those regions had facilities that were impacted or damaged, officials said.
The Ukrainians had been expecting a major Russian missile attack for some time. The US Embassy issued a warning last week about a high risk of attack on Ukraine’s Independence Day, which Ukraine celebrates on Saturday.
Russia and Ukraine deny deliberately targeting civilians. Each says its attacks are aimed at destroying infrastructure essential to the other’s war effort.
