Russia launches 'massive' missile attack against Ukraine, forcing power cuts

Ukraine said it was forced to shut down its power grid in several regions Wednesday despite freezing winter weather after a massive missile attack launched by Russia. The overnight barrage came a day after Ukraine's army carried out a large-scale attack targeting army factories and energy hubs in Russia.

Russia launched dozens of missiles and drones at the Ukrainian energy sector, Kyiv said Wednesday, ramping up a months-long bombing campaign at a precarious moment of the war for Ukraine.

The barrage came just one day after Kyiv said it had carried out its largest aerial attack of the war on Russian army factories and energy hubs hundreds of kilometres from the front line.

The Ukrainian air force said Russia had deployed 43 cruise and ballistic missiles and 74 attack drones in the overnight barrage that appeared to have targeted sites mainly in western Ukraine.

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"Another massive Russian attack. It is the middle of winter, and the target for the Russians remains the same: our energy sector," President Volodymyr Zelensky wrote on social media.

The Russian defence ministry confirmed in a statement its forces had carried out "high precision" strikes on energy facilities that "support the Ukrainian military-industrial complex."

(AFP)


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