In the early hours of Sunday, Russia launched a deadly, large-scale assault using missiles and drones against various Ukrainian towns and cities. Ukrainian authorities stated that a significant objective of these attacks was to cripple the nation’s crucial energy infrastructure.
President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine reported that approximately 500 Russian attack drones and 50 missiles were deployed overnight. Drone activity persisted in Ukrainian airspace throughout Sunday morning and into the early afternoon.
According to President Zelensky, at least five individuals lost their lives, and many more were wounded. Authorities cautioned that the casualty figures were likely to increase.
“Today, the Russians once again targeted our infrastructure — everything that ensures normal life for our people,” President Zelensky stated. He emphasized the urgent need for enhanced protection and quicker implementation of all defense agreements, particularly concerning air defense, to neutralize this aerial terror.
The brunt of the overnight bombardment was concentrated on Lviv in western Ukraine. Local authorities confirmed that four people died when a strike impacted a house in a village situated on the city’s outskirts. This included a devastating strike on a house in Lapaivka, a village on Lviv’s outskirts, where four fatalities were reported.
Thick smoke billowed over Lviv’s historic center, plunging many areas into darkness as emergency services worked frantically to restore power and address the damage. Similar scenes unfolded across the country, with strikes also reported in regions such as Zaporizhzhia, Chernihiv, Sumy, Kharkiv, Kherson, Odesa, and Kirovohrad.
The Ministry of Energy confirmed that many recent assaults have deliberately targeted Ukraine’s energy grid, resulting in widespread power outages. This strategy echoes a pattern observed every winter since Russia initiated its full-scale invasion in February 2022.
In the southern Zaporizhzhia region, local authorities reported at least one death and 73,000 people without electricity following Sunday’s strikes.
The energy ministry assured that “Emergency repair and restoration work is ongoing to restore electricity as quickly as possible.”
Anastasia Kuznietsova contributed to this report.