In the early hours of Monday, Russia launched one of its most extensive drone and missile attacks on Ukraine in recent weeks, focusing heavily on the nation’s energy infrastructure. The widespread assault resulted in significant damage across multiple regions, leaving at least three people dead and plunging large areas into darkness due to emergency power cuts.
The attack began shortly after midnight, with Russian forces deploying a combination of drones, cruise missiles, and hypersonic ballistic Kinzhal missiles. According to Ukraine’s Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal, the barrage affected 15 Ukrainian regions, encompassing more than half of the country. The energy grid was particularly targeted, with state-owned Ukrenergo forced to implement emergency power cuts to prevent further destabilization of the system.
“The energy infrastructure has once again become the target of Russian terrorists,” Shmyhal stated. He also emphasized the need for Ukraine’s allies to provide long-range weapons and permission to strike targets inside Russia. “To stop the barbaric shelling of Ukrainian cities, it is necessary to destroy the locations from which these missiles are launched.”
Ukraine’s air force reported multiple groups of Russian drones advancing towards eastern, northern, southern, and central regions, followed by an array of cruise and ballistic missiles. Explosions were heard in Kyiv, where power and water supplies were disrupted, according to the city’s mayor, Vitali Klitschko.
The human toll of the attack included fatalities in Lutsk, Dnipropetrovsk, and the partially occupied Zaporizhzhia region. Additionally, 13 people were injured across various regions, including Kyiv, Lutsk, Mykolaiv, and Odesa. The barrage caused widespread blackouts and significant damage to civilian infrastructure and residential buildings, from the eastern region of Sumy to the southern Mykolaiv and Odesa regions, and as far west as Rivne.
In the eastern Sumy region, which borders Russia, 194 settlements were completely without power, and 19 others experienced partial blackouts. Ukraine’s private energy company, DTEK, responded by implementing emergency blackouts and noted that energy workers are tirelessly working to restore power across the country.
In response to the extensive damage and power outages, Prime Minister Shmyhal announced the reopening of “points of invincibility” across Ukraine. These shelters provide residents with a place to charge their devices and access refreshments during energy blackouts. These points were initially introduced in the fall of 2022, when Russia began its relentless attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure.
Meanwhile, in neighboring Poland, the military activated its air defenses in response to the Russian attack, a move that also engaged NATO defenses in the region.
On the other side of the conflict, Russia reported a series of Ukrainian drone attacks targeting its central regions. In Saratov, four people were injured as drones struck residential buildings in the cities of Saratov and Engels. The Russian Defense Ministry claimed to have intercepted 22 Ukrainian drones over eight regions, including Saratov and Yaroslavl.
As the conflict rages on, the devastation continues to escalate, with no end in sight to the suffering of civilians caught in the crossfire.