At least six people were killed after Russia launched hundreds of missile and drone attacks on energy infrastructure and residential targets in Ukraine overnight.
A strike at an apartment building in the city of Dnipro killed two people and injured 12, while three died in Zaporizhia.
In all, 25 locations across Ukraine, including the capital Kyiv, were hit, leaving many areas without electricity and heating. Prime Minister Yulia Syvyrydenko said in a telegram that major energy facilities were damaged in Poltava, Kharkiv and Kharkiv and Kyiv regions, and work is restoring power.
In Russia, the defense ministry said its forces were shot down by 79 Ukrainian drones overnight.
The Ukrainian Air Force said Russia launched more than 450 bomber drones and 45 missiles. Nine missiles and 406 drones were reportedly shot down.
The Ukrainian Ministry of Energy said there were power cuts in Dnipropetrovsk, Chernihiv, Zaporizhzhana, Odesa and Kirovharad regions, but restoration work continued.
Syyprydenko said critical infrastructure facilities have been secured, and water supply is being maintained using generators.
Russia argued that the attacks on energy targets were aimed at the Ukrainian military.
Russia’s attack on Ukraine’s infrastructure ahead of winter is now a familiar part of this war. But KYIV ministers are deeply concerned that Moscow is not only trying to undermine the morale of the people of Ukraine but also bring down the economy by cutting off its energy network.
Analysts say the fourth full-scale Russian offensive will prove to be a crucial test of Ukraine’s defense.
The President of Volidymyr, Volyonmyr Zelensky, indicated that the attacks should be “without exception” on the Western capital of Russian energy as a way of putting energy on Moscow.
The missile strikes will come just hours after the The US granted Hungary a one-year exemption from the restrictions To buy oil and gas from Russia.
In October, the US effectively changed two of the largest oil companies in Russia, threatening the lives of those who buy from them.
But on Friday, during a visit to Washington by the Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor – a close ally of Donald Trump – the US President announced the exemption for Budapest.
In a telegram message, Zelensky said the overnight attacks showed that “pressure must be intensified” on Russia.
He said “For every Moscow attack on the energy infrastructure – aimed at harming ordinary people before the winter – there must be a response to the punishment of all encortante in Russia, without exception”.
He said that Ukraine expected “relevant decisions from the US, Europe and G7”.
Debates about sanctions sometimes seem technical or diplomatic. But for the people of Ukraine, they are very real.
If Russia sells oil to Hungary, it will use the money earned to build more drones and missiles, like the one it launched against Ukraine last Friday night.