KYIV — Russia fired more than 150 drones overnight into Sunday targeting close to two dozen locations across Ukraine, authorities said. The attack killed at least four people and injured 20 others.
Ukraine’s Air Forces intercepted 125 drones aerially but confirmed that at least 25 targets were hit.
The latest barrage mainly targeted Kharkiv, Kherson, Zaporizhzhia and Dnipropetrovsk, all of which were targeted in Saturday’s overnight strikes as well.
Local officials in Zaporizhzhia said the strikes targeted residential areas and energy infrastructure. More than 385,000 homes were affected by electric, gas or water outages, at a critical time as temperatures plunged to 10 degrees below Celsius.
The service was restored to most of the affected households and areas by Sunday morning, but added that emergency work was still being carried out to restore power to the remaining homes.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky accused Russia of timing their attacks with the cold peaks of winter as to maximize civilian suffering.
“They struck targets that have no military purpose whatsoever – energy infrastructure, residential buildings. They deliberately waited for freezing weather to make things worse for our people. This is deliberate, cynical Russian terror specifically against civilians,” wrote Zelensky in a post on X.
He also noted that this week had seen heightened Russian assault on Ukrainian cities, announcing that his country’s defense forces recorded thousands of attacks using a variety of different weapons.
“Over the course of this week, Russia launched almost 1,100 attack drones against Ukraine, more than 890 guided aerial bombs, and over 50 missiles of various types – ballistic, cruise, and even the Oreshnik medium-range ballistic missile,” he said.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian forces struck three drilling rigs operated by the Russian Lukoil in the Caspian Sea.
The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, which reported the attacks, said V. Filanovsky, Yuri Korchagin, and Valery Greifer platforms were struck. but the extent of the damage is still being assessed.
The Russian Ministry of Defense indirectly confirmed the attacks, stating that seven drones were allegedly intercepted over the Caspian Sea.
The only Ukrainian units operating in the Caspian region are the Special Operations Forces. They previously struck the only patrol ship in the area, the Rasul Gamzatov, a Project 22460 Okhotnik-class vessel. — Agencies
