Russian missiles hit cities across Ukraine, killing at least 6

Russia unleashed a missile attack targeting energy infrastructure in Ukraine early Thursday, hitting a residential building and killing at least six people in the biggest strike in three weeks, officials said.

In southern Ukraine, the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, controlled by Russian forces, lost power as a result of a missile attack, according to state nuclear operator Energoatom.

It was the sixth time the plant has experienced a blackout since Russia imposed it a few months ago, forcing it to rely on 18 diesel generators that could run the station for 10 days, Energoatom said. Nuclear plants need constant power to run their cooling systems and keep them from breaking down.

“The countdown has begun,” Energoatom said.

Five people were killed in the Lviv region after a missile hit a residential area, Lviv Governor Maksym Kozytskyi said. Three buildings were destroyed by fire and rescue workers were combing through the ruins looking for other possible victims, he said.

Six people were killed and two others wounded in a series of attacks in the Dnipropetrovsk region that targeted energy infrastructure and industrial facilities, Governor Serhii Lysak said.

Air raid sirens wailed overnight across Ukraine, including the capital, Kyiv, where explosions took place in two areas west of the city. Defense systems are activated throughout the country.

In total, Russia launched 81 missiles and eight Shahed drones that exploded, according to the Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Valerii Zaluzhnyi. Thirty-four cruise missiles were intercepted, as well as four drones, he said.

The city’s government said Kyiv was attacked with missiles and explosive drones and many intercepted but its energy infrastructure was hit.

Cars on fire in Kiev

Ukraine destroyed 34 cruise missiles and four Shahed suicide drones, and eight drones and guided missiles were also prevented from reaching their targets, it said in a statement. The Ukrainian military was unable to intercept the Kinzhal missile.

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said explosions were reported in Holosiivskyi district of the city, and two people were injured in Sviatoshynskyi district, also in the west of the city, and a car was on fire there, the Mayor added.

The alarm in Kyiv was raised just before 8 a.m. local time, with air raid sirens silenced after about seven hours.

The missile strikes came as Russia pushed forward on the eastern Ukrainian stronghold of Bakhmut, where fighting has raged between the two sides for six months and reduced the city to a bleak wasteland.

It also came hours after UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres visited Kyiv for talks with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on extending an agreement that allows Ukraine to ship grain from Black Sea ports and allows Russia to export food and fertilizer.

Private electricity operator DTEK reported that three power stations had been affected. There were no casualties, but the company said equipment was badly damaged.

In eastern Ukraine, 15 missiles hit Kharkiv and the outer northeastern region, hitting residential buildings, according to Kharkiv Governor Oleh Syniehubov. He promised to reveal more details about the extent of damage or casualties in Ukraine’s second-largest city.

“Critical infrastructure objects are again in the crosshairs of the occupants,” he said in a Telegram post.

Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov reported on Telegram that there were “electrical problems” in some parts of the city.

The governor of the southern Odesa region, Maksym Marchenko, also reported attacks in Odesa, saying energy facilities and residential buildings were hit. Marchenko warned Telegram to keep people in shelters.

“The countdown has begun,” Energoatom said.

Ukraine’s Energy Minister Herman Halushchenko condemned the missile attack as “another barbaric mass attack on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure,” saying in a Facebook post that facilities in Kyiv, Mykolaiv, Kharkiv, Zaporizhzhia, Odesa, Dnipropetrovsk and Zhytomyr regions had been targeted.

Ukrainian Railways reported power outages in certain areas, with 15 trains delayed by up to an hour.

Many in Kyiv without heat

Preventive emergency power cuts are in effect in Kyiv, Dnipropetrovsk, Donetsk and Odesa regions, supplier DTEK said. Klitschko said that 40 percent of consumers in Kyiv did not have heat due to emergency power outages. Water supply was not interrupted, he said.

Other explosions were reported in the northern city of Chernihiv and western Lviv region, as well as in the cities of Dnipro, Lutsk and Rivne. Ukrainian media also reported explosions in the western regions of Ivano-Frankivsk and Ternopil.

Russia has been attacking Ukraine with massive missile strikes since last October. At first, barrages targeting the country’s energy infrastructure took place every week, leaving entire cities in darkness, but over time it spread, with commentators speculating that Moscow could save on ammunition.

The last massive barrage took place on February 16