Kharkiv military governor Oleh Synehubov confirmed that a new Russian attack on energy infrastructure in northeastern Ukraine injured eight people and left nearly 150,000 homes without electricity.
Synehubov told the Telegram platform on Friday that the eight injured, who were recovering damage from an earlier attack, had to be hospitalized, two of them in serious condition.
Early on Friday, Russia launched the largest missile attack on Ukraine since its invasion of the country began nearly a year ago, according to the Ukrainian military.
According to Ukrainian military sources, the Russian attack hit several vital infrastructures connected to the energy sector in different parts of the country.
The Ukrainian authorities indicated that the attack had particularly affected the regions of Kharkiv (northeast) and Zaporijia (south), which are home to Europe’s largest nuclear power plant, now in Russian hands.
Several explosions were also felt in Kiev, according to AFP journalists in the Ukrainian capital.
The Supreme Commander of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, Valery Zaluzhny, denounced that Russian Kalibr missiles crossed and violated the airspace of Moldova and Romania, a NATO member state.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called the attack a “challenge for NATO”.
In a video message recorded on his return to Ukraine after touring several European countries, Zelensky assured that Russia had launched at least 70 missiles on Ukrainian soil, causing numerous civilian deaths.
“At least 60 missiles were shot down. All of their targets were civilians and civilian infrastructure,” complained Zelensky, noting that several of the Russian missiles passed over the airspace of Moldova and Romania.
“These missiles are a challenge to NATO and to collective security. (…) The world must stop this,” said the Ukrainian president, thanking the air force for its work in defense of the population.
Moldova on Friday summoned Moscow’s ambassador to Chisinau, Oleg Vasnetsov, over the “unacceptable violation” of Moldovan space, according to a statement published on the Chisinau diplomacy portal.
The same note adds that “Russia continues its aggressive war against Ukraine” and that “missile attacks on the neighboring country [Ucrânia] directly and negatively affect the lives of Moldovan citizens”.
Source: DN
