Russia Launches Large-Scale Missile, Drone Attack on Ukraine

MOSCOW – Russia launched a massive missile and drone attack across Ukraine on Monday (8/26/2024) with a focus on targeting energy infrastructure. At least three people were reported killed, and power outages were reported across the country.

The attack began around midnight and continued until dawn in what appeared to be Russia’s biggest assault on Ukraine in weeks.

“Russian forces fired drones, cruise missiles and Kinzhal hypersonic ballistic missiles at 15 Ukrainian regions — more than half of the country’s territory,” Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said, according to AP.

“Energy infrastructure has once again become a target of Russian terrorists. Unfortunately, there are damages in a number of regions,” Shmyhal said, adding that Ukraine’s state-owned electricity grid operator Ukrenergo was forced to make emergency power cuts to stabilize the system.

He called on Ukraine’s allies to provide Kyiv with long-range weapons and permission to use them against targets inside Russia.

“To stop the barbaric shelling of Ukrainian cities, Russian missile launch sites must be destroyed,” Shmyhal said. “We count on the support of our allies and will definitely make Russia pay.”

According to the Ukrainian Air Force, there are several groups of Russian drones moving towards eastern, northern, southern and central Ukraine, followed by several cruise and ballistic missiles.

Explosions were heard in the capital, Kyiv. “The city’s electricity and water supply was disrupted by the attack,” Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said.

At least three people were killed — one in the western city of Lutsk, one in the central Dnipropetrovsk region and one in the partially occupied Zaporizhzhia region in the southeast, local officials said. Thirteen others were injured — one in the Kyiv region surrounding the Ukrainian capital, five in Lutsk, three in the southern Mykolaiv region and four in the neighboring Odesa region.

Power outages and damage to civil infrastructure and residential buildings were reported across the country, from the Sumy region in the east, to the Mykolaiv and Odesa regions in the south, to the Rivne region in the west.