Russia unleashes massive attacks on Ukraine

FE Team | Published: August 27, 2024 00:45:03

KYIV, Aug 26 (AP): Russia unleashed a massive drone and missile barrage throughout Ukraine on Monday, targeting energy infrastructure. At least three people were reported killed, and power cuts were reported across the country.
The barrage began around midnight and continued beyond daybreak in what appeared to be Russia's biggest attack against Ukraine in weeks.
Russian forces fired drones, cruise missiles and hypersonic ballistic Kinzhal missiles at 15 Ukrainian regions - more than half the country, Ukraine's Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said Monday morning.
"The energy infrastructure has once again become the target of Russian terrorists. Unfortunately, there is damage in a number of regions," Shmyhal said, adding that Ukraine's state-owned power grid operator, Ukrenergo, has been forced to implement emergency power cuts to stabilize the system.
He called on Ukraine's allies to provide Kyiv with long-range weapons and permission to use them on targets inside Russia.
"In order to stop the barbaric shelling of Ukrainian cities, it is necessary to destroy the place from which the Russian missiles are launched," Shmyhal said. "We count on the support of our allies and will definitely make Russia pay."
According to Ukraine's air force, there were multiple groups of Russian drones moving toward eastern, northern, southern, and central regions of Ukraine, followed by multiple cruise and ballistic missiles.
Explosions were heard in the capital, Kyiv. Power and water supplies in the city have been disrupted by the attack, Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said.
At least three people were killed - one in the western city of Lutsk, one in the central Dnipropetrovsk region and one in the partially occupied Zaporizhzhia region in the southeast, according to local officials.
Thirteen others were wounded - one in the Kyiv region that surrounds the Ukrainian capital, five in Lutsk, three in the southern Mykolaiv region and four in the neighboring Odesa region.
Blackouts and damage to civilian infrastructure and residential buildings were reported across the country, from the region of Sumy in the east, to the Mykolaiv and Odesa regions in the south, to the region of Rivne in the west.
In Sumy, a province in the east that borders Russia, local administration said that 194 settlements were in a full power blackout, while 19 others had a partial blackout.