KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russia unleashed a massive drone and missile barrage across Ukraine on Monday, targeting energy infrastructure. At least three people are reported dead, and power outages are reported across the country.
The barrage, which began around midnight and continued well into the day, was Russia's biggest offensive against Ukraine in weeks.
Ukrainian Prime Minister Denis Schmihal said early Monday that Russian forces fired drones, cruise missiles and hypersonic ballistic missiles at 15 regions of Ukraine – more than half the country.
Energy infrastructure has once again been targeted by Russian terrorists. Unfortunately, there have been losses in many areas,” Schmihal said, adding that Ukraine's state-owned power grid operator, Ukrainergo, had been forced to implement emergency power cuts to stabilize the system.
He called on Ukraine's allies to provide Kiev with long-range weapons and allow them to be used against targets inside Russia.
Schmihl said that in order to stop the brutal shelling of Ukrainian cities, it is necessary to destroy the site from which the Russian missiles have been launched. “We count on the support of our allies and will certainly repay Russia.”
According to the Ukrainian Air Force, several groups of Russian drones were moving towards the eastern, northern, southern and central regions of Ukraine, followed by several cruise and ballistic missiles.
Explosions were heard in the capital city of Kiev. Kyiv Mayor Vitaly Klitschko said the attack had disrupted electricity and water supplies in the city.
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 authorities. Thirteen others were injured – one in the Kiev 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 urban infrastructure and residential buildings were reported across the country, from the Sumy region in the east, to Mykolaiv and Odesa regions in the south, and to Rivne region in the west.
In Sumy, an eastern province bordering Russia, local authorities said 194 villages had a complete blackout, while 19 others had a partial blackout.
Ukraine's private energy company, DTEK, introduced the emergency blackout, saying in an online statement that “energy workers across the country are working 24/7 to restore light to the homes of Ukrainians.” ”
Prime Minister Shmihal said that in the wake of the barrage and power cuts, regional officials across Ukraine had been ordered to open “invulnerable points” — shelter-type places where people can charge their devices and store energy. Can get refreshments during the outage. Such points were first opened in Ukraine in the fall of 2022, when Russia targeted the country's energy infrastructure with weekly barrages.
The military in neighboring Poland said the attack had activated Polish and NATO air defenses in the eastern part of the country.
In Russia, meanwhile, officials reported a Ukrainian drone strike overnight and into Monday morning.
Four people were injured in the central Russian region of Saratov after drones targeted residential buildings in two cities. One drone crashed into a residential high-rise in the city of Saratov, and another hit a residential building in the city of Engels, which is home to a military airport that has been attacked before, local officials said.
Russia's Defense Ministry said a total of 22 Ukrainian drones were intercepted in eight Russian regions overnight and in the morning, including Saratov and Yaroslavl regions in central Russia.
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