According to Ukrainian authorities, Russia launched one of its biggest attacks on Ukraine since the start of the almost three-year war tonight, leading to power outages and strong concerns about the upcoming cold winter, world agencies reported, quoted by BTA.
Hundreds of missiles and drones flew into the sky over Kiev, killing at least four people, injuring dozens and damaging the country's already shaken energy grid. The attack came on the eve of marking 1,000 days since the start of the war. A woman was killed by a Russian drone in the southern Kherson region, the head of the regional military administration, Oleksandr Prokudin, reported, quoted by Ukrinform.
A civilian was also reported killed in a Ukrainian drone attack in Russia's Belgorod region. The incident was confirmed by the governor of the Russian border region, Vyacheslav Gladkov, quoted by Reuters. The editor-in-chief of the Russian newspaper "Narodna Gazeta" Yulia Kuznetsova was killed in a Ukrainian drone attack in the Kursk region, which is partially occupied by Kiev forces, TASS reported, citing regional governor Alexei Smirnov.
Two people, including a newspaper employee, were injured in the attack on a car. The strikes came as the Ukrainian army retreated and the support of its main backer, the United States, was called into question by the re-election of Donald Trump as president, Reuters notes.
Ukrainian power operator DTEK announced emergency power outages in the Kiev region and two regions in the east of the country. Earlier, Ukrainian Energy Minister Herman Halushchenko said on Telegram that "a massive attack on our energy system continues" and that Russian forces were "attacking electricity generation and transmission facilities across Ukraine." He added that where possible, emergency and rescue teams and energy teams were conducting surveys to assess the damage and consequences of the attacks.
AFP journalists heard explosions early this morning in Kiev and near Slavyansk in the Donetsk region, and Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Szybiga called the strikes "one of the largest air strikes" since the beginning of the conflict.
"Russia has launched one of its largest air strikes - drones and missiles against peaceful cities, sleeping civilians and critical infrastructure. This is the real answer of the war criminal Putin to all those who have called and visited him recently. We need peace through force, not a policy of concessions," Szybiga stressed.
Russia's continuous air strikes have destroyed half of Ukraine's energy production capacity, President Volodymyr Zelensky said. Moscow fired 120 missiles and 90 drones at Ukraine, of which 140 were shot down by Ukrainian air defenses, he said on social media.
"The large-scale combined attack was directed against all regions of Ukraine. During the night and this morning, Russian terrorists used various types of drones, including the "Shahed", as well as cruise, ballistic and aeroballistic missiles - "Zircon", "Iskander-M" and "Kinzhal". In total, about 120 missiles and 90 drones were fired. Our air defense forces destroyed over 140 air targets," he wrote in "Ex". According to the latest figures, Ukrainian air defenses have destroyed 102 missiles and 42 drones launched by Russia during the attack, the Kiev air force said.
THE APPROACHING WINTER
As the harsh winter approaches, Ukraine is already suffering from severe energy shortages, and its outnumbered and outgunned forces have been losing ground to the Kremlin's troops for weeks. Kiev has asked its Western allies for help in restoring its energy grid - a hugely expensive undertaking - and in supplying Ukrainian forces with more air defense weapons.
But many in Ukraine fear that with Trump's imminent return to the White House in January, Western aid will not be as freely provided. The newly elected Republican president has often questioned Washington's support for Ukraine and campaigned on a promise to quickly reach an agreement to end the war, AFP notes.
In addition to the capital Kiev, Ukrainian energy operator DTEK announced power outages in the Donetsk and Dnipropetrovsk regions in the east of the country, where the Russian army says it has seized dozens of villages in recent weeks. Power was also cut in parts of the southern Black Sea port city of Odessa, its mayor said, and officials warned that the attack had hit key infrastructure in Vinnytsia, Rivne, Volyn and Zaporizhia regions. Although it is difficult to estimate the extent of the damage, the power grid operator said it was the eighth major attack on its power plants this year.
PUTIN'S RESPONSE
According to the Emergency Services of Ukraine, a Russian drone strike in the southern Mykolaiv region killed two people and injured six, including two children.
Odessa regional governor Oleg Kiper said two people had been killed and one injured in missile strikes on Odessa. The injured person was a 17-year-old boy. Three houses were damaged, where a fire broke out from falling debris while hitting a target. Four houses were destroyed, the head of the military administration in the Odessa region said.
Two people were also injured in the southern Zaporizhia region, according to regional governor Ivan Fedorov. One person was slightly injured in the eastern city of Dnipro, Dnipropetrovsk region governor Sergiy Lysak said.
Meanwhile, the capital's mayor, Vitali Klitschko, said one person was injured in Kiev after a fragment of a drone fell on an apartment building. Ukraine's top diplomat Andriy Sybiga described the shelling as Russia's "real response" to Western leaders who had tried to contact President Vladimir Putin. Authorities in Kiev were angered by the fact that German Chancellor Olaf Scholz initiated a conversation with Putin on Friday despite objections from Ukraine, which was the first phone call between the Russian leader and a major Western politician in nearly two years, AFP notes.
After Trump repeatedly promised to end the war in Ukraine in a day, his re-election as president has reignited debate about the prospect of a diplomatic solution to the conflict. Zelensky, who has long rejected the prospect of negotiations, said at the weekend that he wants to end the war through "diplomatic means" next year.
However, Kiev and the Kremlin remain at odds over the terms of a possible peace agreement. Putin, for his part, has said that he will accept talks with Ukraine only if Kiev hands over to Russia the Ukrainian territory that Moscow occupies. Zelensky has unequivocally rejected the Russian president's conditions, AFP notes.
The nighttime shelling prompted Poland to send fighter jets and mobilize all available forces in response to the attack. Warsaw puts its armed forces on alert when it believes attacks on its neighbor could pose a threat to its own territory. The Russian Defense Ministry confirmed earlier that Moscow's forces had carried out a massive strike on energy facilities supplying Ukraine's military industry, Russian news agencies reported. The Ukrainian military's airport infrastructure was also hit, the defense ministry added, Reuters notes.