Russian drones and missiles targeted energy infrastructure and other civilian facilities in cities across Ukraine on Saturday in one of Russia's largest airstrikes, Ukraine's foreign minister said on Sunday, as neighboring Poland scrambled military jets.
"Russia has carried out one of the biggest airstrikes: drones and missiles on peaceful cities, sleeping civilians, critical infrastructure. This is the true answer of the war criminal (Russian President Vladimir) Putin to all those who called and visited him recently. We need peace through strength , not appeasement," wrote Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sibiha.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russia launched about 120 missiles and 90 drones in what he described as a "massive" combined air strike on Ukraine's energy infrastructure, Radio Free Europe's Ukrainian service reported.
"The target of the enemy was our energy infrastructure throughout Ukraine. Unfortunately, there is damage to the facilities from impacts and debris," he said in a statement on social media.
Explosions were reported early Sunday in the capital Kiev, as well as in other cities across the country, including Odessa on the Black Sea coast and the southeastern city of Zaporizhia. The Russian missile attack targeted power infrastructure across Ukraine, causing pre-emptive supply disruptions, Ukrainian Energy Minister Herman Halushchenko said.
Russia has launched a massive attack as its invasion of Ukraine approaches its 1000th day. Russia is spending huge amounts of weapons and human lives to make small but steady territorial gains.
Until then, Ukraine is struggling to reduce losses, maintain morale and convince allies that, with more military aid, it can turn the situation around. US President-elect Donald Trump has said he could end the war quickly, although it is unclear how.
The Group of Seven (G7) leading industrialized nations on Saturday reiterated their "unwavering support for Ukraine as long as necessary" in its fight against Russian forces.
Russia's attack on Ukraine on Sunday prompted neighboring Poland to raise planes.
"Due to the massive attack by the Russian Federation with cruise missiles, ballistic missiles and drones against objects located, among others, in western Ukraine, Polish and allied aircraft began to operate in our airspace," the operational command of the Polish armed forces said online X.
The Polish army stated that it "activated all available forces and resources at its disposal, raised a pair of fighter jets on duty, and ground systems of air defense and radar reconnaissance reached the highest level of readiness."
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk wrote on the X network that the Kremlin's war against Ukraine will not end with a telephone conversation, since German Chancellor Olaf Solz had a telephone conversation with Putin a few days ago.
"No one will stop Putin with phone calls. The attack last night – one of the biggest in this war – proved that phone diplomacy cannot replace the real support of the entire West for Ukraine," Tusk wrote.
Zelensky said on social media that Russia has used various types of drones, including Iran's Shahed, as well as cruise, ballistic and aircraft-launched ballistic missiles. Ukrainian defense forces shot down 140 air targets, he said.
The rocket attack followed a drone attack on the capital of Ukraine. The roof of a residential building caught fire in Kyiv after the remains of a drone fell, and at least one person was injured, city officials announced on Telegram.
The combined attack by drones and rockets was the most powerful in the last three months, said the head of the Kyiv military administration, Sergei Popko.
The Air Force of Ukraine issued an airstrike alert across all regions of the country around 6:00 a.m. local time, warning of the attack.
Kiev is also seeking to prevent further Russian gains inside Ukraine and to retain the Russian territory it has seized in the Kursk Oblast.
Kursk Oblast Governor Alexei Smirnov said on Sunday that one person – a local journalist – was killed and two others were injured in a Ukrainian drone strike. His allegations could not be independently verified.
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