A “massive” Russian missile and drone attack has targeted power infrastructure across Ukraine, the country’s President Volodymyr Zelensky has said.
It is the largest such assault since early September, with reports of multiple explosions across the country, according to authorities and local media.
“Peaceful cities, sleeping civilians” and “critical infrastructure” were targeted, Ukraine’s foreign minister Andrii Sybiha said.
Emergency blackouts were enacted in Kyiv and two other regions in the east, prompting fears of another difficult winter.
In total, around 120 missiles and 90 drones were launched, Mr Zelensky said on Telegram.
In Ukraine’s south, the city of Mykolaiv was among the worst hit, with at least two people killed and several injured, while the Black Sea port of Odesa experienced a city-wide power cut.
In the capital, Kyiv, fragments from intercepted missiles and drones fell in several places, but there were no reports of injuries.
Poland, Ukraine’s neighbour to the west, scrambled fighter jets to patrol its own airspace as a security precaution, Poland’s Operational Command said.
“Due to a massive attack by Russia, which is carrying out strikes using cruise missiles, ballistic missiles and drones against sites located, among other places, in western Ukraine, operations by Polish and allied aircraft have begun,” it said.
