127 missiles, 109 drones: Russia bombs Ukraine in one of the biggest attacks on energy

The attack came two days after Ukraine’s Independence Day and its unveiling (and use) of its own first long-range domestically produced drone, the Palianytsia. According to Ukrainian sources, the drone attacks were coordinated, hitting targets in Ukraine’s northern, southern, eastern, and central parts.

Volleys of cruise and ballistic missiles followed these, which may have included Russia’s hypersonic ballistic Kinzhal missiles. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has described the attack as “vile.”

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

Attack on Ukraine

According to the Associated Press (AP), the attacks were so devastating that explosions could be heard from the capital of Ukraine, Kyiv. Apparently, the attacks were successful, knocking out power and water supplies in many cities, including Kyiv.

“The energy infrastructure has once again become the target of Russian terrorists,” Ukraine’s Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said. He added that the state-owned power grid operator, Ukrenergo, has been forced to implement emergency power cuts to stabilize the system.

He called on Ukraine’s allies to supply it with long-range weapons and authorize their use on targets within Russia. “In order to stop the barbaric shelling of Ukrainian cities, it is necessary to destroy the place from which the Russian missiles are launched,” Shmyhal said.

“We count on the support of our allies and will definitely make Russia pay,” he added. “Long-range precision air- and sea-based weapons and strike drones against critical energy infrastructure facilities that support the operation of Ukraine’s military-industrial complex. All designated targets were hit,” the Russian Defense Ministry said.

Tit-for-tat attacks

Of the civilian casualties, they reportedly include individuals in Lutsk, the central Dnipropetrovsk region, Zhytomyr, and the partially occupied Zaporizhzhia region. Additionally, thirteen people were wounded: one in the Kiev region, five in Lutsk, three in the southern Mykolaiv region, and four in the neighboring Odesa region.

Blackouts and damage to civilian infrastructure and residential buildings were reported from Sumy in the east to the Mykolaiv and Odesa regions in the south, and to the Rivne region in the west. In Sumy, a province in the east that borders Russia, local administration said that 194 settlements lost power, while 19 others had a partial blackout.

Ukraine also launched its own attacks on Russia on the same night. Reportedly, four civilians were killed in the central region of Saratov by Ukrainian drone attacks that hit residential buildings.

Two drones struck residential areas in Russia—one in the city of Saratov and another in the city of Engels. Both of these cities are home to military facilities. The Defense Ministry of Russia reported that twenty-two Ukrainian drones were intercepted in eight provinces, including the Saratov and Yaroslavl regions in central Russia.