Three killed as Russia launches huge attack

At least three individuals have been killed after Russia launched an enormous assault throughout Ukraine, critically damaging some energy and water provides.

Explosions rang out in a number of cities together with Kyiv on Monday morning, as greater than half of the nation’s areas got here beneath assault.

Authorities in Zaporizhzhia, Lutsk and the central Dnipropetrovsk area every reported somebody had died within the huge air raid, which featured missiles and drones.

Ukraine’s prime minister mentioned Russia had been focusing on their vitality infrastructure, a long-term tactic of Moscow’s forces.

The barrage of drone and missile assaults started throughout the nation in a single day on Monday and continued nicely into the morning, Ukraine’s air power mentioned on Telegram.

Explosions heard in quite a few cities from Lutsk within the west to Dnipro within the east as individuals had been urged to remain in shelters and your complete nation got here beneath air raid alert.

Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmygal mentioned 15 areas had been focused – with the assaults aimed toward vitality infrastructure and utilizing weapons together with drones, cruise missiles and supersonic missiles.

“There are wounded and useless,” Mr Shmyhal mentioned on the Telegram social media app.

A 69-year-old man was killed within the Dnipropetrovsk area, native governor Sergiy Lysak mentioned, including that a number of homes had been broken.

A person was killed when his home was hit in Zaporizhzhia, mentioned the governor, whereas the mayor of Lutsk mentioned one particular person had been killed when an “infrastructure facility” was hit.

In the central Poltava area, 5 individuals had been injured when an “industrial facility” was hit, the governor mentioned – as he urged individuals to remain in shelters till bedtime.

The assaults have triggered severe harm to some infrastructure, with energy outages reported in lots of cities – together with Kyiv – and water provides disrupted.

Emergency blackouts have been imposed, vitality firm DTEK warned, including that its engineers had been working to return electrical energy provides throughout the nation.

The assault comes as Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine stretches into its third yr.

The Russian navy has been making gradual however regular advances within the east in latest months.

Meanwhile, Ukraine launched a shock latest offensive into Kursk in Russia, which was seen as an try to attract troops away from the japanese entrance line. Experts say that effort has did not materialise, with Moscow’s forces remaining broadly engaged in Ukraine.

On Monday, Ukraine tried to assault an oil refinery in Yaroslavl, a metropolis north-east of Moscow, in line with the regional governor. No casualties or harm have been reported.

And Russia’s defence ministry mentioned it had destroyed 9 drones over its Saratov area, which is 560 miles (900km) from the Ukrainian border.

Andriy Yermak, President Volodymyr Zelensky’s chief of employees, referred to as on Ukraine’s allies to offer permission to launch long-range assaults on Russia with Western-supplied weapons, in a message on Telegram.