Russia conducted a “massive” barrage of strikes on critical infrastructure in Kyiv, Kharkiv and other cities on Monday morning, Ukrainian authorities reported.
Part of the Ukrainian capital was cut off from power and water supplies due to the attacks, Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko said. Some 350,000 apartments were affected, according to him.
Officials reported possible power outages in the cities of Kharkiv and Zaporizhzhia too.
Ukrainian sources claim Moscow forces used drones and strategic bombers in Monday’s wave of strikes. Some 40 cruise missiles were spotted as well, according to domestic media reports. There were no immediate reports of possible casualties.
Critical infrastructure objects were also hit in the Cherkasy region southeast of Kyiv, and explosions were reported in other regions, including Dnipropetrovsk and Zaporizhzhia in the southeast and Lviv in western Ukraine.
In the Kirovohrad region of central Ukraine, the energy facility was hit, according to local authorities.
In Vinnytsia, a missile that was shot down landed on civilian buildings, resulting in damage but no casualties, according to regional governor Serhii Borzov.
In Kharkiv, two strikes hit critical infrastructure facilities, and the subway ceased operating. Some parts of Ukrainian railways were also cut off from power, the Ukrainian Railways reported.
The attack comes two days after Russia accused Ukraine of a drone attack against Russia’s Black Sea Fleet off the coast of the annexed Crimean Peninsula.
Ukraine has denied the attack, saying that Russia mishandled its own weapons, but Moscow still announced halting its participation in an UN-brokered deal to allow safe passage of ships carrying grain from Ukraine.
Commenting on Monday’s attacks, the head of Ukraine’s presidential office Andriy Yermak said that Russian forces “continue to fight with civilian facilities”.
“We will persevere, and generations of Russians will pay a high price for their disgrace,” Yermak said.
It’s the second time this month that Russia unleashed a massive barrage of strikes on Ukrainian infrastructure.
On 10 October, a similar attack rocked the war-torn country following an explosion on the Kerch Bridge linking annexed Crimea to mainland Russia — an incident Moscow blamed on Kyiv.
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