Russia launched the largest missile barrage to target the Ukrainian power grid since early spring, hours after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy urged the United Nations Security Council to revoke Moscow’s veto rights at the body.
(Bloomberg) — Russia launched the largest missile barrage to target the Ukrainian power grid since early spring, hours after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy urged the United Nations Security Council to revoke Moscow’s veto rights at the body.
The attack left parts of five regions, including the one around Kyiv, without electricity, the national grid operator Ukrenergo said on Telegram.
“It’s impossible to say whether this is the beginning of a new massive terrorist wave of targeted attacks on the power system,” Ukrenergo’s chief executive officer Volodymyr Kudrytskyi said on Facebook, adding that his company was preparing for any scenario. The strike also damaged substations, cutting power for more than 50,000 households, according to the Energy Ministry.
Russia fired 43 cruise missiles from strategic bombers in several waves overnight. They entered Ukraine from various directions and continually changed their course, army chief Valeriy Zaluzhnyi said on Telegram. The country’s air defense downed 36 missiles, he said.
At least seven people were hurt when missile debris fell on several districts of Kyiv, damaging a gas pipeline, a hostel and a non-residential building, and interrupting water and electricity supply to parts of the capital, Mayor Vitali Klitschko said on Telegram. Kyiv city administration said around 20 missiles were shot down.
Authorities said a second wave of Russian attacks across Ukraine targeted the northeastern city of Kharkiv, central Cherkasy, the western city of Rivne and the Lviv region near the Polish border. Ten people were injured after a strike on a hotel in Cherkasy and at least 20 others may be trapped in the ruins, according to local officials, while two people were reported hurt in Kharkiv.
A PepsiCo Inc. factory in Ukraine’s Kyiv region was also damaged, according to Ukraine’s Defense Ministry.
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Russia reported 19 Ukrainian drone attacks on Crimea, the Black Sea peninsula annexed by Moscow in 2014. In what appears to be a widespread retaliatory strike for the Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine, drones also hit the Orel, Kursk and Belgorod regions, according to the Russian Defense Ministry, which reported no casualties and said it had downed several of them.
Zelenskiy Blasts ‘Criminal’ War, Seeks End to Russia UN Veto
The attacks took place after Zelenskiy met other world leaders at the United Nations General Assembly in New York to rally support for Ukraine. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov is also attending the UN gathering and is scheduled to give an address on Saturday.
(Udpates with details of damage to grid, missile count)
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