Ukraine faces 'one of largest' Russian aerial assaults

Russia pounded Ukrainian energy infrastructure and other civilian targets with around 120 missiles and 90 drones on Sunday morning, forcing Kyiv to implement precautionary power cuts and even prompting neighboring Poland to scramble its air force.

In what he called "one of the largest air attacks" of the war so far, Ukraine's Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said Russia had launched "drones and missiles against peaceful cities, sleeping civilians [and] critical infrastructure" across the country, including in some usually quieter western regions.

The Ukrainian Air Force reported dozens of cruise and ballistic missiles, some launched from strategic bombers, fired at targets nationwide, following on from waves of combat drones.

"The enemy's target was our energy infrastructure throughout Ukraine," said President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, saying that 140 projectiles fired by the "Russian terrorists" were shot down. "Unfortunately, there is damage to objects from hits and falling debris."

The Russian Defense Ministry said the strikes targeted facilities that support Ukraine's defense industry and military enterprises.

Zelenskyy's hometown struck in barrage 

In total, the overnight Russian strikes left at least eight people dead and wounded around 20 more, according to Ukrainian officials.

Among the initial casualties were two women killed in the southern city of Mykolaiv, where six other people, including two children, were also injured, according to local military governor Vitalii Kim.

Kim said several homes, a tower block, a shopping mall and a row of parked cars had also been damaged, as well as unspecified infrastructure.

The death toll also included two people who were killed in the Odesa region, where the attack damaged energy infrastructure and disrupted power and water supplies, according to governor Vitalii Kim Oleh Kiper.

Two residential buildings reportedly caught fire in the capital, Kyiv, while explosions were also reported in Zaporizhzhia, Dnipro, and Zelenskyy's hometown Kryvyi Rih, in central Ukraine. Social media footage showed Ukrainian air defenses in action in the Black Sea port of Odesa.

Ukraine's largest private energy provider DTEK said in a statement that Russian strikes had "seriously damaged" equipment at thermal power stations, where it said repairs were underway.

Power was switched off in several areas as a precautionary measure to prevent potential overload of the grid, should energy facilities be hit.

Poland scrambles air force

Such was the severity of the Russian assault that neighboring Poland scrambled fighter jets, radar detection systems and air defense units to protect its southeastern border with Ukraine.

The Polish Army said "all necessary forces" had been mobilized for the protection of the state's territory.

In November 2022, during a missile attack on Ukraine earlier in the war, a rocket killed two people in the Polish village of Przewodow, just 6 kilometers (3.7 miles) from the Ukrainian border. Investigations revealed it was a Ukrainian air defense missile which had been launched to intercept Russian missiles.

A NATO member since 1999, Poland contributes the most to the 32-member Western military alliance in terms of defense spending as a proportion of GDP. This year, Warsaw has spent 4.17% of GDP on defense, a figure which it intends to increase to 4.7% in 2025.

By way of comparison, the United States, while by far the biggest contributor in real terms, spent 3.37% of GDP on defense in 2024, while Germany spent 2.12%, marginally more than the required 2% threshold.

mf/lo (dpa, AFP, Reuters)