Russian missiles target Ukrainian energy facilities before winter – Kyiv. Ukraine said Russia unleashed its heaviest missile attack in weeks on Kyiv and across Ukraine on Thursday, hurting at least 18 people, damaging energy installations, and cutting power.

Five western, central, and eastern Ukrainian areas reported partial power outages, recalling last winter’s Russian bombing strike on crucial infrastructure that left civilians without power.

“Due to the consequences of the first enemy attack in six months, energy facilities in the western and central regions are damaged,” Ukrenergo announced on Telegram messenger. It added, “Rivene, Zhytomyr, Kyiv, Dnipropetrovsk, and Kharkiv regions had partial blackouts.”

Military Commander Valeriy Zaluzhnyi claimed Russia fired 43 cruise missiles overnight, and Ukrainian air defenses shot down 36. “Multiple missile waves were launched. They approached Ukraine’s airspace from multiple directions, changing routes “Per Telegram.

Reuters witnesses reported loud blasts in Kyiv and the surrounding area at daybreak. Authorities dispatched rescue teams to various capital locations.

Mayor Vitali Klitschko reported seven injuries in the capital, including a nine-year-old child. He said several non-residential structures and an infrastructure facility caught fire as missile debris dropped in the city center.
Damage across Ukraine
Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said seven people were hurt in Cherkasy, central Ukraine when a hotel and many commercial kiosks were damaged.

An emergency service video on Telegram shows rescuers carrying an injured man on a stretcher during a fire.

The interior ministry and regional officials reported blasts in Cherkasy, Kharkiv, Khmelnytskiy, Rivne, Vinnytsia, Lviv, and Ivano-Frankivsk. Lviv’s regional governor Maksym Kozytskyi claimed three Russian missiles hit Drohobych in the west, 60 kilometers (37 miles) from Poland.

Kozytskiy stated infrastructure and warehouses were damaged. Governor Oleksandr Prokudin said Russian shelling of a Kherson dormitory overnight killed two persons. The attacks come as Ukraine counterattacks Russian soldiers in the east and south. A Ukrainian intelligence source stated the SBU and navy struck the Saky air base in Russian-occupied Crimea overnight, causing “serious damage.”

The Russian military says it destroyed 19 Ukrainian drones over Crimea and the Black Sea but did not provide casualties or damage. The reports were unverified by Reuters.