Kyiv: Russia unleashed a massive drone and missile barrage throughout Ukraine Monday, and at least three people were reported killed in the attack that appeared to target energy infrastructure.
The barrage began around midnight and continued after daybreak in what appeared to be Russia’s biggest attack against Ukraine in weeks.
According to Ukraine’s air force, there were multiple groups of Russian drones moving towards 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 Vitalii Klitschko said.
Ihor Polishchuk, mayor of Ukraine’s western city of Lutsk, said a multi-story residential building and an unspecified infrastructure object were hit and one person was killed.
Another person was killed in the central Dnipropetrovsk region, where the attack sparked multiple fires, regional head Serhii Lysak said.
One person was also killed in the southeastern, partially occupied region of Zaporizhzhia, regional head Ivan Fedorov said.
Ukraine’s private energy company DTEK introduced emergency blackouts, saying in an online statement that “energy workers throughout the country work 24/7 to restore light in the homes of Ukrainians.”
In neighbouring Poland, the military said Polish and NATO air defences were activated in the eastern part of the country as a result of the attack.
AP