'Vile' barrage of drones and missiles carpets Ukraine

Attacks targeting energy infrastructure left four people dead and more than a dozen injured in biggest attack of the war’

- TARA COBHAM

Russia has launched a major barrage of missiles and drones across Ukraine, killing four people, injuring more than a dozen and damaging energy facilities in what has been called its biggest attack of the war.

The bombardment, condemned as “vile” by Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelensky, involved the firing of more than 100 missiles and a similar number of drones at more than half the country yesterday, with Ukraine’s air force commander describing it as Moscow’s biggest air assault of the war so far.

In attacks that began at around midnight and continued through daybreak, Ukraine’s air force said swarms of Russian drones fired at eastern, northern, southern and central regions were followed by volleys of cruise and ballistic missiles.

“Like most previous Russian strikes, this one was just as vile, targeting critical civilian infrastructure,” Mr Zelensky said, adding that most of the country was targeted, from the Kharkiv region and Kyiv to Odesa and the west.

Russian forces fired drones, cruise missiles and hypersonic ballistic Kinzhal missiles at 15 Ukrainian regions, damaging a number of the areas, Ukraine’s prime minister Denys Shmyhal said.

“The energy infrastructure has once again become the target of Russian terrorists,” he said, adding that Ukraine’s state-owned power grid operator, Ukrenergo, was forced to implement emergency power cuts to stabilise the system.