By Deutsche Welle (World News) | Created at 2024-11-17 09:39:04 | Updated at 2024-11-17 11:52:55
2 hours ago
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 Andriy Sybiga said that 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 home town struck in barrage
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 an unspecified infrastructural object.
Two residential buildings reportedly caught fire in the capital, Kyiv, while explosions were also reported in Zaporizhzhia, Dnipro, and Zelenskyy's home town Kryvyi Rih. 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 that "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 six kilometers (3.7 miles) from the Ukrainian border. Investigations revealed it had been 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. In 2024, Warsaw 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)
