Russia launched more than a hundred missiles and nearly as many attack drones at Ukraine during the morning rush hour today, killing at least five people and hitting important energy infrastructure facilities nationwide, officials said. Power cuts and water supply outages were reported in numerous places, including parts of the national capital Kyiv, as officials said the attack 30 months into Russia’s full-scale invasion – targeted critical infrastructure in at least 10 regions.
Russia dramatically stepped up its strikes on the Ukrainian power grid in March in what Kyiv has said looks like a concerted effort to degrade the system ahead of winter when people need electricity and heating most.
Monday’s missile and drone salvo was Russia’s most intense in weeks, coming as Ukraine is claiming new ground in a major cross-border incursion into Russia’s southern Kursk region while Russian forces steadily inch forward in Ukraine’s east, closing in on the transport hub of Pokrovsk.
“It was one of the biggest combined strikes. More than a hundred missiles of various types and about a hundred Shahed drones. And like most previous Russian strikes, this one is just as sneaky, targeting critical civilian infrastructure,” President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Telegram.
According to Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal, 15 regions had sustained damage. Zelenskiy said the energy sector had taken “a lot of damage”.
Top Kyiv officials urged to allow long-range strikes into Russia.
Ukraine had no powerful long-range weapons at the start of the invasion, but has since developed many models of long-range attack drone and used them to hit targets deep inside Russia, ranging from oil refineries to military airfields.
Over the weekend, Zelenskiy said Ukraine had developed a new “drone missile” that had been used to attack Russia and was more powerful and faster than other hardware in Kyiv’s arsenal.
Interfax news agency cited Russia’s Defence Ministry as stating on Monday that its forces used high precision weapons to strike important energy infrastructure in Ukraine, that according to it powered the nation’s military-industrial complex.
Team Bharatshakti
(With inputs from Reuters)
