By Tom Balmforth and Pavel Polityuk
KYIV (Reuters) – Explosions rocked Ukraine’s capital Kiev and other cities early on Sunday, as Russia launched its biggest missile attack since August and hit power plants as winter began, officials said. told
Ukrainians have been preparing for weeks for a major attack on the power system, fearing damage to the grid would cause prolonged blackouts and a possible war with Russia in February 2022. It will put psychological stress on a critical moment.
“Another major attack on the power system is under way. The enemy is attacking power generation and transmission facilities throughout Ukraine,” Ukrainian Energy Minister German Galushenko wrote on Facebook (NASDAQ: ).
Air defense drones could be heard over the capital during the night, and in the morning a series of loud explosions erupted in the center of the city during a missile attack.
The extent of the damage was not immediately clear. Authorities cut power to several districts of the city, including Kiev, its suburbs and the Dnipropetrovsk region, in what they said was a precaution to prevent further damage.
Officials in the Volyn region in northwestern Ukraine said energy infrastructure had been damaged, but did not elaborate. Because of the war, authorities often withhold information about the state of the electricity system.
In Makolaiv in the south, two people were killed in an overnight drone attack, the regional governor said. The explosions rocked the southeastern city of Zaporizhzhia and the Black Sea port of Odessa, Reuters witnesses said. More explosions were reported in the regions of Kryvyi Rih in the south and Rivne in the west.
“Russia launched one of the largest airstrikes: drones and missiles against peaceful cities, sleeping civilians, critical infrastructure,” Foreign Minister Andrey Sibiha said.
He described the strike as a “real response” from Moscow to the leaders negotiating with President Vladimir Putin, an apparent swipe at German Chancellor Olaf Schulz, who after the end of 2022. Called the Russian leader for the first time on Friday.
NATO member Poland, which borders Ukraine to the west, said it had moved its air force inside its airspace as a precautionary measure in the wake of the Russian attack, which it said was a cruise missile. Missiles, ballistic missiles and drones were used.
Poland “activated all available forces and resources at its disposal, on-duty combat formations were disbanded, and ground-based air defense and radar reconnaissance systems reached the highest state of readiness,” its armed forces stationed at X operational command of .
Ukraine’s air force urged residents to provide regular updates on the progress of Russian cruise, ballistic and hypersonic missiles, which it says are damaging Ukrainian airspace.
In Kiev, debris from the roof of a residential building caused a fire and at least two people were injured, city officials said on the Telegram messaging app.
“Emergency services have been dispatched to the scene,” Kyiv Mayor Vitaly Klitschko said.
Russia last launched a major missile attack on Kiev on August 26, when officials said it fired more than 200 drones and missiles across the country in an attack that killed seven people.
