Russia launched a large-scale missile attack targeting Ukraine’s infrastructure on Thursday, leaving around million houses without electricity, Ukraine’s Energy Minister reported. The strikes particularly targeted electricity substations and power plants western and central parts of the country.
Explosions were heard in several Ukrainian cities, including capital Kyiv, Kharkiv, Mykolayiv, Odesa, Lutsk and Rivne that were struck with cluster munitions. Ukrainian Air Defence reported that 176 missiles and drones out of 188 have been intercepted. The Ukrainian Air Force announced a nationwide aerial alert following the warning that Russia had launched seven Tu-95 strategic bombers.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said the attack particularly targeted the country’s energy infrastructure. “These cluster munitions make it much more difficult for our rescuers and power engineers to eliminate the consequences of the strike, and this is a very despicable escalation of Russian terrorist tactics,” Zelenskiy said.
Russia has stepped up missile and drone attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure recently. Zelenskiy said on Zelensky said on November 24 that Russia launched over 00 KAB-guided aerial bombs, 20 missiles, around 460 attack drones over the past week. Earlier, on November 21 Russia launched a new intermediate-range ballistic missile, IRBM, known as Oreshnik, into Ukraine’s Dnipro in the first case of such weapon’s usage in the conflict.
