Russian missile strikes over Ukraine result in six deaths and power outages

On Thursday, Russia launched a fresh round of airstrikes across Ukraine, resulting in the deaths of at least six people and the loss of electricity nationwide, including at the Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant.

According to the Ukrainian military, Russia utilised six hypersonic Kinzhal missiles, which are impossible for Ukraine to stop, along with 81 missiles and eight drones in attacks that mostly targeted energy facilities.

The attacks, which mostly targeted energy installations, occurred in more than six different locations, including Kyiv, the Black Sea port of Odesa, and Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city.

The Ukrainian military claimed that at least 34 missiles and four Shahed suicide drones were destroyed by air defences, however local officials reported that five persons were murdered in the western district of Lviv and one in the southeast of Dnipropetrovsk.

The enemy launched six Kinzhal missiles during this significant attack, which used so many different types of missiles for the first time, according to air force spokesman Yuriy Ihnat. It was unprecedented, as they say.

Russia increased airstrikes in October of last year after beginning a full-scale invasion of Ukraine less than a year prior. Since then, it has routinely cut power to millions of people.

The attack on the Ukrainian capital on Thursday, which knocked out heating to 40% of the city, left at least two people injured, according to Vitali Klitschko, the mayor of Kyiv.

Around 7:00 a.m., Reuters reporters in Kiev heard several explosions (0500 GMT).

The largest nuclear power station in Europe, Zaporizhizhia, lost power as a result of the strikes, according to Ukraine’s state nuclear power agency, Energoatom, forcing it to convert to diesel generators with a 10-day supply of fuel.

READ ALSO: Military Reports: Extremists Murder at Least 36 Persons in Eastern Congo

Power had been restricted in all regions during the strikes out of an abundance of caution, according to national grid operator Ukrenergo, and at least three will endure lengthier cuts as a result of the attacks.

The shutdown of energy to the nuclear facility was called “a provocation” by officials who were installed by Russia in the region of Zaporizhzhia that is under occupation.

But, the head of the Ukrainian president’s staff, Andriy Yermak, posted the following on the messaging service Telegram: “The terrorists are making every effort to cut off our electricity… They are still terrorising innocent civilians.”

Oleh Synehubov, the governor of the Kharkiv region, reported that roughly 15 S-300 ballistic missiles, which Ukraine is likewise unable to stop, targeted his city in northeastern Ukraine.

He wrote on Telegram, “The enemy made roughly 15 strikes on the city and region. “Again, infrastructure was a target.”

(Reuters)