Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky today underlined his country's need for more air defense systems after Russia launched its biggest attack on Ukraine in weeks, reports Reuters.
"Last night Russian terrorists carried out another massive attack. Especially on infrastructure. Most of the missiles were shot down. But only most of them. Not all," he said on the Telegram messaging app.
"More air defense. More sanctions. More support for Ukrainian soldiers on the front lines," he wrote during a visit to the United States of America (USA), where he said air defense systems would be on the agenda for negotiations.
Ukraine warned on Thursday that tough winter months lie ahead, after "massive" Russian missile attacks targeting civilian infrastructure resulted in deaths and injuries across Ukraine.
Moscow targeted cities from Rivne in western Ukraine to Kherson in the south, the capital Kiev and cities in the center and northeast of the country.
At least three people were killed in Kherson, and many were wounded in other parts of Ukraine, while authorities are still searching for victims in some cities.
Russia launched the attacks as Ukraine prepares for its third winter under Moscow's 19-month-old invasion, and as President Volodymyr Zelensky is in Washington for the second time since the war began.
"Difficult months are ahead: Russia will attack energy infrastructure and key facilities," said Oleksiy Kuleba, deputy chief of the presidential cabinet. He added that Moscow was targeting "civilian infrastructure" across Ukraine.
Kiev says power has been cut across the country, in nearly 400 towns and villages, as Russia has targeted energy facilities, but Ukraine adds that it is "too early" to say whether this is the start of a new Russian campaign on energy infrastructure.
Last winter, many Ukrainians were left without electricity and heating in freezing temperatures due to Russian attacks.
In the Darnicki neighborhood in the east of Kyiv, the remains of a downed rocket injured seven people, including a child.
In Kherson in the south, authorities said three people were killed in attacks on residential buildings.
"According to the police, three people were killed and five were injured," said Igor Klimenko, Minister of Internal Affairs of Ukraine.
The governor of Kherson, Oleksandr Prokudin, said the two victims were men aged 29 and 41.
The mayor, Roman Mročko, stated later that an 81-year-old woman was also killed.
In Rivne in the west, relatively safe and far from the war zone, authorities worked to put out a large fire at a car repair shop.
They also stated that part of the city was without electricity.
Maksim Kozicki, the governor of the neighboring Lviv region, said that three rockets hit industrial facilities in Drogobih, 70 km from the border with Poland.
In the central city of Cherkassy, Klimenko said the search was still on for victims who may be under the rubble after the attack on the city.
The attacks come after more than a year of war, and winter - which can be brutal in some parts of Ukraine - is just weeks away.
The state energy operator, Ukrenergo, said 398 settlements were without power as the attacks damaged power plants across the country.
"There are partial power outages in the regions of Rivne, Zhytomyr, Kyiv, Dnipropetrovsk and Kharkiv," they said on Telegram.
Oleksiy Chernyshov, head of Ukraine's main energy company Naftogaz, called for calm.
"We should be calm, the amount of gas will be enough to last us through the heating season," he said on television.
The Russian missile attacks come during Zelensky's stay in the United States, in an attempt to secure new aid for Ukraine - which has been waging a counter-offensive for months - despite Western fatigue over the protracted conflict.
He is scheduled to meet with US President Joseph Biden and go to the Pentagon to ask for additional weapons for Kiev, after addressing the United Nations General Assembly in New York, where he condemned Russian "genocide."
(Radio Free Europe)
In the Russian bombing of six Ukrainian cities this morning, at least two people were killed, 21 were wounded, while many are still trapped under the rubble.
They were Russia's biggest airstrikes since August 15 and came a day after sabotage was reported at the Russian military airport in Chkalovsk near Moscow.
They also coincided with the session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York, where Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky gave a speech and presented the Ukrainian "peace formula".
In Kherson, a city in the south of the country located close to the front line, two were killed and five were injured after a residential building was hit, regional governor Oleksandr Prokudin said.
In the attack on Kyiv, seven people were injured, including a nine-year-old girl, while residential and commercial buildings were damaged, said the mayor of Kyiv, Vitaly Klitschko.
At least six strikes took place in Kharkiv, civil infrastructure was damaged, regional governor Oleh Sinjehubov said. Two people were admitted to the hospital.
About ten people were injured, and one was pulled from the rubble in Cherkasy, in central Ukraine.
Another 23 people could be under the ruins, said the regional governor of Cherkassy, Igor Taburec. Rescue services are working to clear the rubble.
(BETA)
Russia today carried out its biggest missile attacks in weeks on Kiev and targets across Ukraine, wounding at least 18 people, damaging energy facilities and causing power outages, Ukrainian authorities said, according to Reuters.
Partial power outages were reported in five Ukrainian regions in the west, center and east, recalling Russia's air campaign on critical infrastructure last winter that caused major power outages for Ukrainian civilians.
"Due to the consequences of the first enemy attack in the last six months, energy facilities were damaged in the western and central regions," network operator Ukrenergo said in a statement on Telegram.
"There was a partial blackout in the areas of Rivne, Zhytomyr, Kyiv, Dnipropetrovsk and Kharkiv," the statement said.
Valery Zaluzhnyi, the commander-in-chief of the armed forces, said that Russia fired 43 cruise missiles at targets overnight and that Ukrainian air defenses shot down 36 of them.
"The missiles were launched in several waves. They entered the airspace of Ukraine from several directions, constantly changing their route," he said on Telegram.
Loud explosions rocked Kyiv and the surrounding region as dawn broke, Reuters witnesses said.
Authorities reported sending rescue teams to several locations in the capital.
Mayor Vitalij Klitschko said that seven people, including a nine-year-old girl, were injured in the capital.
Missile debris fell in the city center, and infrastructure facilities and several non-residential buildings were damaged, which caused a fire, he said.
Damage across Ukraine
Interior Minister Igor Klimenko said that in Cherkassy, central Ukraine, a hotel and several shopping kiosks were damaged and seven people were injured.
Emergency services posted a video on Telegram showing rescuers carrying an injured man on a stretcher while the fire was raging.
The Ministry of Internal Affairs and regional officials reported explosions in Cherkasy, Kharkiv, Khmelnytskyi, Rivne, Vinnytsia, Lviv and Ivano-Frankivsk regions.
Maksim Kozicki, the regional governor of Lviv, said three Russian rockets hit the western town of Drohobich, about 60 km from the Polish border.
Kozicki said that infrastructure facilities and warehouses were affected.
In a separate attack overnight, two people were killed in Russian shelling of a dormitory in the southern city of Kherson, Governor Oleksandr Prokudin said.
The attacks come as Ukraine continues a counteroffensive against Russian forces in the east and south.
A Ukrainian intelligence source said the Ukrainian security service and naval SBU attacked the Saki air base on the Russian-occupied Crimea peninsula overnight, causing "serious damage".
The Russian military, meanwhile, said it had destroyed 19 Ukrainian drones over Crimea and the Black Sea, and gave no details on casualties or damage.
Reuters could not independently verify the reports.
Explosions could be heard in Kiev following an airstrike alert on Thursday morning, Reuters witnesses said, as authorities sent rescue teams to at least two locations in the Ukrainian capital.
Air defense is on the job, and rescuers are on their way to possible explosion sites in the eastern and southern parts of the city, mayor Vitaliy Klitschko wrote on the Telegram messaging application.
Missile debris fell in central Kyiv and non-residential buildings were damaged in the east, causing a fire, he said, and two people were hospitalized, including a child. Officials and local media also reported explosions in the Ukrainian regions of Kharkiv, Khmelnytskyi, Rivne, Vinnytsia, Lviv and Ivano-Frankivsk, Reuters reports.
In the city of Rivne in western Ukraine, according to Suspilna media, a partial power outage was reported, indicating that the Russian attack may have targeted energy infrastructure.
At least two people were killed and five were injured in Russian strikes on the city of Kherson in southern Ukraine, Governor Oleksandr Prokudin said this morning.
"The Russian army bombed the residential areas of Kherson. At this moment we have information that two civilians have died," wrote the governor of the Kherson region on Telegram.
He added that four people were transferred to the hospital, and that one injured civilian was treated on the spot.
(BETA)
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