Russia launches massive missile and drone attack on Ukraine; explosions in Kyiv

The Ukrainian military on Monday said that Russia has launched a massive missile and drone attack on Ukraine, reported Reuters.

At least seven explosions were heard in the capital, Kyiv, amid a nationwide alert warning against Russian aerial attacks, according to AFP. Three people have been in killed in the attack. The fatalities were reported from western Lutsk, eastern Dnipro and southern Zaporizhzhia regions.

Ukraine’s air force told Ukrainians that Russia had 11 TU-95 strategic bombers in the air and confirmed the launch of several missiles. They said that there were multiple groups of Russian drones moving towards eastern, northern, southern, and central regions of Ukraine, followed by multiple cruise and ballistic missiles, reported the Associated Press.

The attack began around midnight and is still ongoing. It appears to be Russia’s biggest offensive against Ukraine in weeks. Local authorities reported explosions in the northwestern city of Lutsk and said that an apartment block had been damaged and one person has been killed.

The governors of the southern regions of Odesa and Zaporizhzhia and the northern region of Kharkiv confirmed explosions in their regions. In a message on Telegram, they urged people to take shelter. Regional governor of Ukraine’s western region of Lviv said that Russia is targeting energy facilities in Ukraine.

“The enemy attacked energy facilities in the Lviv region. As a result, there are partial power outages in (the city of) Lviv and the region,” Governor Maksym Kozytskyi said, according to AFP. On Sunday, Russia launched attacks on northern, eastern and southern Ukraine, killing at least four people and injuring 37, Ukrainian military and local authorities said.

The overnight attacks targeted Ukraine’s frontline regions of Chernihiv, Sumy, Kharkiv and Donetsk, Ukraine’s air force said on the Telegram messaging app. Both sides deny targeting civilians in the war that Russia launched with a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.