Russia launched a devastating bombardment against cities across Ukraine, killing at least five people and casting hundreds of thousands more into blackouts with a new mix of weapons that mostly evaded air defenses.
(Bloomberg) — Russia launched a devastating bombardment against cities across Ukraine, killing at least five people and casting hundreds of thousands more into blackouts with a new mix of weapons that mostly evaded air defenses.
The victims died in their homes in a residential neighborhood near Lviv in western Ukraine, regional Governor Maksym Kozytskyi said on Telegram.
It was the 15th large-scale missile barrage against Ukraine’s energy infrastructure since Russian President Vladimir Putin’s forces began targeting civilian infrastructure in October. While authorities say the electricity grid has survived the most difficult period of winter, low temperatures continue to pose risks to millions of Ukrainians left vulnerable from the war.
The capital and major cities such as Kharkiv, Odesa and Zhytomyr reported blackouts, while air-raid sirens that started blaring after midnight continued to sound as the sun rose.
The barrage included Iranian-made Shahed drones and almost every other type of missiles in Russia’s arsenal, the Kyiv city military administration said on Telegram. The capital’s air defense forces shot down all of the weapons except for a Kinzhal missile, which Russia says is a hypersonic rocket that can evade air defenses.
Elsewhere, more missiles struck their targets. Ukraine shot down only 34 of the 81 fired during the bombardment and only half of the eight drones launched at targets outside of Kyiv, the commander-in-chief of Ukraine’s armed forces, Valeriy Zaluzhnyi, said on Telegram. The attack included six Kinzhals launched from the air that all made it through Ukraine’s defenses, he said.
“The attack was truly massive,” Ukrainian Air Defense spokesman Yuriy Ihnat said on TV.
Worst Is Over in Russia’s War on Ukrainian Energy, Operator Says
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said explosions rocked the Holosiyivskiy and Svyatoshynskiy districts, wounding two. About 15% of the capital’s residents were without power because of emergency electricity cuts, he said on Telegram. About 40% of households were left without heating as well, he added.
At least 15 missiles hit the second-largest city Kharkiv and surrounding areas, local Governor Oleh Synehubov said on Telegram. To the south in Odesa, authorities preventively shut off power, while national rail service Ukrzaliznytsia said about 15 trains out of more then 90 were running with delays.
The attack disrupted water and power supply to most households in Zhytomyr, a city of more than 250,000 people, Mayor Serhiy Sukhomlyn said on Facebook.
Europe’s biggest nuclear power plant at Zaporizhzhia lost its power supply after shelling cut off the link to the power grid, according to Energoatom, the nation’s nuclear agency.
The plant went into so-called blackout mode, and diesel generators have been switched on to power the plant’s operational and safety systems, Energoatom said on Telegram.
–With assistance from Kateryna Choursina.
(Updates with new information on attack throughout.)
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