Kiev says Russia launched massive missile and drone attack on Ukraine

Russia fired more than 100 missiles and about 100 attack drones into Ukraine at its peak Monday morning, killing at least five people and striking energy facilities across the country, officials said.

Power and water outages were reported in many places, including parts of Kiev. Officials said the attack, which came two and a half years after Russia’s full-scale invasion, targeted power or other critical infrastructure in at least 10 regions.

In March, Russia stepped up its crackdown on Ukraine’s power grid, a move Kiev said appeared to be an attempt to cripple the grid before winter, when Ukrainians need electricity and heating the most.

Monday’s salvo of missiles and drones was the most intense Russian attack in weeks and came as Ukraine seized new territory in a massive cross-border incursion into Russia’s southern Kursk region, while Russian troops advanced steadily through eastern Ukraine, closing in on the transport hub of Pokrovsk.

“This was one of the largest joint strikes. More than a hundred missiles of various types and about a hundred Shahed drones. Like most of Russia’s previous strikes, this one was just as cunning and targeted critical civilian infrastructure,” President Zelensky said on Telegram.

According to Ukrainian Prime Minister Denis Shmyhal, 15 regions suffered damage, and Zelensky said the energy sector had suffered “serious losses.”

Urge senior officials in Kiev to allow long-range strikes against Russia.

Ukraine did not have powerful long-range weapons at the start of the invasion, but has since developed a variety of long-range attack drones and used them to strike targets deep inside Russia, including refineries and military airfields.

Over the weekend, Zelensky said Ukraine had developed a new “drone missile” that it had used to attack Russia and was more powerful and faster than other hardware in Kiev’s arsenal.

Interfax news agency cited Russia’s Defense Ministry on Monday as saying Russian forces had used high-precision weapons to attack vital Ukrainian energy infrastructure, which it said supported the military-industrial complex.

Damage reported

Poland’s military said warplanes from Poland and its allies were put on alert after Russian missile and drone attacks in western Ukraine bordering the NATO member.

The regions hit by power or critical infrastructure attacks include Rivne and Volyn in the northwest, Khmelnitsk in the southwest, Zhitomir in the north, Lviv in the west, Dnipropetrovsk, Kirovograd and Vinnytsia in central Ukraine, Zaporizhia in the southeast and Odessa in the south.

Officials said facilities in at least seven of the regions were attacked or damaged.

Neighboring Moldova, whose power grid is linked to Ukraine’s, reported minor outages.

Ukrainian forces launched their incursion into Russia on August 6 from the northeastern Sumy region, where authorities said a railway infrastructure had been attacked, but did not identify the facility or provide further details.

At least five confirmed deaths included a 69-year-old man from the Dnipropetrovsk region, local officials said. The other dead were from the Zaporizhia, Kharkiv, Zhytomyr and Volyn regions.

An apartment building was damaged in Lutsk, the mayor said after reporting the explosion.

The explosion also rocked central Kiev, and air defence units could be heard striking incoming targets on the outskirts of the capital.

Russia used 11 TU-95 strategic bombers and other weapons in Monday’s attack, the air force said.

Ukrainians have been worried for some time about a massive Russian missile attack, with the U.S. Embassy warning last week that the risk of an attack was high as Ukraine celebrates Independence Day on Saturday.

The head of Kyiv’s Military Administration, Sergei Popko, wrote on Telegram that about 15 missiles and 15 drones aimed at the capital, Kyiv, were shot down.

Russia and Ukraine have denied deliberately targeting civilians. Each side says its attacks are aimed at destroying infrastructure vital to the other’s war effort.