Russia launched another mass airstrike against power grid targets across Ukraine, with one of the missiles flying over Moldovan airspace signaling the risk of the conflict spilling over.
Russian forces fired 71 cruise missiles, 7 Iranian-supplied Shahed attack drones and 35 S-300 missiles, mostly used for air defense, Valeriy Zaluzhnyi, Ukraine’s chief of general staff, said on Twitter. Ukraine’s air defense shot down 61 cruise missiles and five drones, he added.
Zaluzhnyi said two Russian Kalibr cruise missiles launched from the Black Sea had crossed the airspace of Moldova and Romania before flying back to Ukraine. Ukraine’s air defenses could shoot down Russian missiles but decided not to pose a potential risk to citizens of neighboring countries, air force spokesman Yuriy Ignat said.
Two people were killed in Poland in November when a missile hit a farm near the Polish border. The Ukrainians initially claimed it was a Russian missile, but it turned out to be a Ukrainian S-300 air defense interceptor.
Moldova’s defense ministry on Friday confirmed that one missile crossed its airspace before returning to Ukraine.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on his Telegram channel that Russia’s missile flight path is “a challenge to NATO and collective security. This is terror that can and must be stopped.
However, Romania denied that Russian missiles had flown over the region. Romania’s defense ministry said the air force had monitored missiles fired from Russian warships that passed through Ukrainian and Moldovan airspace “without intersecting, at any time, Romanian airspace”.
The closest point on the projectile’s trajectory was about 35km northeast of the Romanian border, he said. Unlike Moldova, Romania is a member of NATO. Two military jets under NATO command scrambled to intercept the missile, in which case it crossed the border, but they stood down after two minutes, the ministry said.
NATO officials confirmed Romania’s account.
The attack came a day after Zelenskyy completed a lightning tour of European capitals where he pressed Ukraine’s allies to provide more advanced and long-range weapons, including fighter jets.
“Arms for Ukraine – the best way to stop Russian arrogance,” Andriy Yermak, Zelenskyy’s chief of staff, wrote on Telegram after the missile attack.
Friday’s mass missile attack was the 14th since October. Russia’s serial bombings have largely targeted the country’s power grid with the aim of keeping the country dark and cold during the winter. They caused massive manpower shortages, but could not break Ukraine’s resolve.
Explosions were heard in Kyiv shortly after 10 a.m. local time, although it was unclear whether it was a missile strike or an air defense at work. Two cars, a house and a power grid were damaged by debris from the rocket in the capital’s Holosiivskyi district.
Local media also reported explosions in Vinnytsia and Khmelnytskyi cities and in Lviv, Poltava and Ivano-Frankivsk provinces.
Ukrainian grid operator Ukrenergo said there had been attacks on “several high-voltage infrastructure facilities in the eastern, western, southern regions”, causing power outages. DTEK, Ukraine’s largest private energy company, said four thermal power plants had been damaged. The attack caused widespread power outages.
Ukrainian officials said late last year that repeated attacks had damaged 40 percent of the grid’s infrastructure and that many parts of the country had experienced months-long power outages. However, the power supply has become less reliable in recent weeks as engineers race to repair damaged equipment.
Additional reporting by Henry Foy in Brussels and Valentina Pop in London