Putin lashes out: Russia’s deadly overnight barrage strikes over half of Ukraine with missiles and drones

Russia unleashed a massive assault across much of Ukraine on Monday, launching a barrage of missiles and drones that killed four people, injured more than a dozen, and targeted critical energy facilities. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy condemned the attacks as “vile.”

The overnight offensive, one of Russia’s most extensive in weeks, involved over 100 missiles and a similar number of drones. The strikes began around midnight and continued into the early morning hours, affecting regions across the country.

Ukraine’s air force reported that Russian drones targeted eastern, northern, southern, and central regions, followed by waves of cruise and ballistic missiles.

President Zelenskyy noted that the strikes focused on civilian infrastructure, impacting regions from Kharkiv and Kyiv to Odesa and the western part of the country. Explosions were heard in Kyiv, where power and water supplies were disrupted, according to Mayor Vitali Klitschko.

Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal confirmed that Russia fired drones, cruise missiles, and hypersonic Kinzhal missiles at 15 Ukrainian regions, covering more than half the country. Shmyhal emphasized that the energy infrastructure was again targeted, forcing the state-owned power grid operator, Ukrenergo, to implement emergency power cuts.

Shmyhal urged Ukraine’s allies to provide long-range weapons and allow their use against targets inside Russia. He stressed that stopping the shelling of Ukrainian cities requires eliminating the launch sites of Russian missiles.

In response, U.S. President Joe Biden condemned the attacks on energy infrastructure as “outrageous” and announced that U.S. air defense exports would be prioritized for Ukraine. He also stated that the U.S. is sending energy equipment to help repair and strengthen Ukraine’s energy grid.

The Russian Defense Ministry claimed the attacks were aimed at critical energy infrastructure supporting Ukraine’s military-industrial complex and that all designated targets were hit.

The strikes caused casualties across the country, with one person killed in each of the western city of Lutsk, the central Dnipropetrovsk region, the central Zhytomyr region, and the partially occupied Zaporizhzhia region. Thirteen others were injured, with reports of blackouts and damage to civilian infrastructure from Sumy in the east to Mykolaiv and Odesa in the south, and Rivne in the west.

In Sumy, 194 settlements lost power, and 19 others experienced partial blackouts. The private energy company DTEK introduced emergency blackouts, while officials across Ukraine were ordered to open “points of invincibility,” where people can charge devices and access refreshments during blackouts.

In neighboring Poland, military and NATO air defenses were activated in response to the attacks.

Meanwhile, in Russia, officials reported a Ukrainian drone attack overnight that injured four people in the Saratov region. Drones hit residential buildings in Saratov and Engels, the latter being home to a military airfield that had been targeted previously.

Russia’s Defense Ministry reported intercepting 22 Ukrainian drones overnight and in the morning over eight provinces, including the Saratov and Yaroslavl regions.

Russian troops also reportedly repelled Ukrainian attempts to advance on several settlements in the Kursk region, where recent fighting has raised concerns about the local nuclear power plant. International Atomic Energy Agency chief Rafael Grossi is scheduled to visit the plant on Tuesday.