LATEST: Kremlin’s Latest Mass Missile Attack Underwhelms
Ukraine was under attack once again on Monday, as Russia launched the latest wave of missiles in a bid to cripple the country’s energy infrastructure.
The head of the Zaporizhzhia region said two people were killed and three more injured including a small child in attacks that damaged residential homes.
Officials in the city of Sumy in the north of the country said power had been knocked out. In Odessa, the water services operator said “there is no water supply anywhere” and officials in the central city of Kryvyi Rig said “parts of the city are cut off from electricity, several boiler and pumping stations are disconnected.”
In the capital air raid sirens sounded at 13:40 and hundreds of people took shelter in the city’s metro stations, as Andriy Yermak, head of the Ukrainian presidential staff, told people: “Don’t ignore the alarm.”
The all clear was given around 16:15 and the damage caused to Ukraine’s energy infrastructure appeared to be far less than that caused by Russia’s last attempt.
Ukraine has been braced for another attack for over a week now, with President Volodymyr Zelensky saying last month that Moscow’s forces would continue the campaign of systematic attacks “for as long as they have missiles”.
Zelensky added that the military was preparing itself, alongside Western allies, who have been delivering new air defence systems to Ukraine, but some missiles inevitably hit their targets.
With temperatures dipping below zero, repeated Russian attacks have left Ukraine’s energy grid teetering on the brink of collapse and have disrupted power and water supplies to millions over recent weeks.
In its last barrage, Russia fired dozens of cruise missiles at targets across Ukraine last month, and officials in Kyiv said residents in and around the capital were still suffering disruptions as a result.
The attack comes just hours after explosions hit two Russian air bases used by heavy bombers to attack Ukraine’s power grid, with local social media quick to blame kamikaze drones.
Video footage from towns near the Engels air force base, in Russia’s central Saratov Region, showed a massive flash lighting up the sky above the facility, followed by a blast wave loud enough to set off car alarms at least 10 km. from the explosion.
