Russia launched a missile and drone attack on Ukraine overnight, killing at least seven people.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the attack was “one of the largest” since the war began over two years ago.
Officials said Russia targeted the Ukraine’s power plants, causing widespread outages.
Background
On 24 February 2022, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a “special military operation” into Ukraine, claiming the country is “historically Russian land”.
Russian troops crossed the border and missiles were fired at cities. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the country would defend itself. Ukraine retook large chunks of its territory in 2022, but its counter-offensive then stalled.
Earlier this month, Ukraine launched a surprise attack on Russia, pushing across its northern border into the Russian regions of Kursk and Belgorod.
Attacks
Early Monday morning (local time), explosions were reported in the capital city of Kyiv, as well as Kharkiv, Odesa, and Zaporizhzhia.
According to Ukrainian officials, the attacks targeted 15 regions — more than half the country. Power and water supplies across Ukraine were disrupted by the attacks.
The State Emergency Service confirmed seven people were killed and 47 injured. Rescue operations involved nearly 740 workers.
In response to the attacks, Ukraine’s Foreign Affairs Minister Dmytro Kuleba called on Western allies, including the UK and the U.S. to lift their current restrictions on long-range weapons.
He argued these restrictions prevent Ukraine from striking deep inside Russia, limiting its ability to effectively counter their attacks.
In a post to X, Kuleba said removing these restrictions would not escalate the conflict but would instead “deter Russia, help to reduce terror and the number of Russian attacks, as well as the resulting casualties.”
Human toll
UN data shows last month was the deadliest for Ukrainian civilians since October 2022. At least 219 civilians were killed and over 1,000 were injured.
Neither country has provided updated overall military death tolls, but international estimates suggest both sides have lost tens of thousands of soldiers.
Earlier this year, the UK Ministry of Defence estimated that half a million Russian soldiers had been killed or injured.
