Russian forces launched massive airstrikes on Ukraine overnight, with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky describing it on Friday as “one of the biggest attacks on our power grid.”
Zelensky said on Telegram that Russian forces fired more than 90 missiles into the country’s energy sector, shooting down 81 of the missiles.
Eleven cruise missiles were intercepted by Western-supplied F-16 fighter jets, Zelensky said.
Before the missiles were fired, Russia had apparently sent almost 200 combat drones to Ukraine.
Zelensky reiterated his call for Western allies to provide more air defense systems to halt the attacks.
The Ukrainian Air Force said the wave of attacks was carried out with drones and missiles, as well as MiG-31 fighter jets equipped with Kinzhal hypersonic missiles.
The Kinzhal missiles were fired at western Ukrainian targets near the Burshtyn heating plant and the Starokostiantyniv military airbase, military observers said. A number of cruise missiles had also hit the Odessa region in southern Ukraine, they said.
There was initially no confirmation of the scale of the attacks.
Ukrainian Energy Minister German Galushchenko posted on Facebook that the energy sector was once again under heavy fire.
Power cuts have been introduced as a precaution in a number of regions to prevent overloading the electricity grid.
Four people were injured in the northeastern Kharkov region, the regional military governor, Oleh Syniehubov, reported on Telegram. Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov reported that a drone had hit a residential building.
Russian forces have repeatedly targeted Ukraine’s energy infrastructure during the cold winter months since launching their full-scale invasion in February 2022.
Ukrainian troops under pressure
According to military observers, the situation continues to deteriorate for Ukrainian forces on the front line in eastern Ukraine.
An unspecified number of soldiers were threatened with encirclement south of Kurakhove in the Donetsk region, they said.
The Ukrainian General Staff provided no details, only reporting heavy fighting around Kurachove. Pokrovsk, about an hour’s drive north, is also said to be hotly contested.
According to reports, Russian troops have made several advances there in recent days. More citizens who had remained in the city despite the danger were brought to safety.
