Key Points
- Russian strikes have targeted Ukraine's energy infrastructure.
- More than 100 missiles and 100 drones struck Ukraine during rush hour on Monday.
- At least seven people were killed in the attacks.
Russia has launched more than 100 missiles and around 100 attack drones at Ukraine, killing at least seven people and striking energy facilities nationwide, officials say.
Power cuts and water supply outages were reported in numerous places, including parts of Kyiv, as officials said the attack — two-and-a-half years into Russia's full-scale invasion — targeted power or other critical infrastructure in at least 10 regions.
Russia dramatically stepped up its strikes on the Ukrainian power grid in March in what Kyiv has said looks like a concerted effort to degrade the system ahead of winter when people need electricity and heating most.
Monday's missile and drone salvo was Russia's most intense in weeks, coming as Ukraine is claiming new ground in a major cross-border incursion into Russia's southern Kursk region while Russian forces steadily inch forward in Ukraine's east, closing in on the transport hub of Pokrovsk.
"It was one of the biggest combined strikes. More than a hundred missiles of various types and about a hundred Shahed drones. And like most previous Russian strikes, this one is just as sneaky, targeting critical civilian infrastructure," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Telegram.
According to Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal, 15 regions had sustained damage. Zelenskyy said the energy sector had taken "a lot of damage".
Interfax news agency cited Russia's defence ministry as saying on Monday its forces used high-precision weapons to strike important energy infrastructure in Ukraine which it said supported the military-industrial complex.
Poland's military said its warplanes and those of its allies had been put on alert after the Russian missile and drone assault, which struck western regions of Ukraine that border the NATO member state.
At least seven of those regions had facilities that were hit or damaged, officials said.
Ukrainians had been expecting a major Russian missile attack for some time. The US embassy issued a warning last week of an elevated risk of attack around Ukrainian Independence Day, which Ukraine marked on Saturday.
Both Russia and Ukraine deny deliberately targeting civilians. Each says its attacks are aimed at destroying infrastructure critical to the other's war effort.
