LONDON — Russia launched a deadly large-scale attack on Ukraine on Monday, sending drones and cruise and ballistic missiles toward at least 15 regions, Ukrainian officials said.
The strikes were among the largest such airstrikes since the war began in 2022, with Russia using at least 127 missiles and 109 drones in an attack that lasted more than eight hours, according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
“And like most previous Russian strikes, this one is just as despicable, targeting critical civilian infrastructure,” Zelenskyy said in Ukrainian, later adding that Russian President Vladimir Putin “can only do what the world allows him to do.”
This photograph shows a children’s playground damaged following an airstrike, in the Odessa region, on August 26, 2024, as part of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Oleksandr Gimanov/AFP via Getty Images
Critical infrastructure, the energy sector and railways were targeted in the attack, Zelenskyy said.
“What is happening in kyiv right now is an incredible horror. Pray for us,” Kira Rudick, a member of the Ukrainian parliament, posted on social media. She then added: “What happened today? A nightmare.”
At least seven people have been killed and at least 47 others injured as a result of attacks across Ukraine, the Ukrainian State Emergency Service said in a Telegram message on Monday.
Among the 47 injured, four were children, the State Emergency Service of Ukraine said.
After the large-scale attack, additional casualties were reported late Monday night after local officials said a missile struck civilian infrastructure in Kryvyi Rih, central Ukraine. One woman was killed and four people were injured in the attack, city officials said, as a rescue operation was underway.
Some residents of the capital kyiv took refuge in the city’s metro as Russia launched its “massive” attack across the country, Deputy Prime Minister Olga Stefanishyna said on social media, posting a local news video showing a crowd of people standing along a train platform.
kyiv was among 15 areas across Ukraine hit by the attack, which began early in the morning and continued into the afternoon, lasting at least 12 hours, officials said.
“Attack drones are attacking kyiv from different directions at the moment,” the Kiev city military administration said, referring to unmanned aerial vehicles, or drones.
The administration added: “Air defense troops have already destroyed a total of about a dozen and a half enemy drones that were heading towards the capital. The air alert in kyiv has been going on for more than 6 hours.”
In a statement released Monday, President Joe Biden condemned the attacks.
“I condemn, in the strongest terms, Russia’s ongoing war against Ukraine and its efforts to plunge the Ukrainian people into darkness. I want to be clear: Russia will never succeed in Ukraine and the spirit of the Ukrainian people will never be broken,” he said in his statement.
Biden said he would “send energy equipment to Ukraine to repair its systems and strengthen the resilience of Ukraine’s energy grid.”
This photograph shows damaged houses at a site following an airstrike, in the Odessa region, on August 26, 2024, as part of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. On August 26, 2024, Russian drones and missiles targeted 15 regions of Ukraine in a nighttime barrage aimed primarily at energy infrastructure, Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmygal said.
Oleksandr Gimanov/AFP via Getty Images
The strikes came after Ukraine’s Independence Day celebrations on Saturday. Russia struck several Ukrainian facilities on Saturday, knocking out power to many people. The U.S. Embassy in Kiev helped restore power Sunday after Russia’s “barbaric attacks,” according to official U.S. State Department accounts on Russian social media.
Russia also targeted energy infrastructure on Monday in a bid to “terrorize all of Ukraine” and “deprive Ukrainians of electricity,” the Verkhovna Rada, the country’s parliament, said. Engineers were working by mid-morning to restore power to many facilities, the parliament said.
“The desire to destroy our energy will cost the Russians dearly – their infrastructure,” Zelenskyi adviser Andrii Yermak said in Ukrainian on the Telegram messaging app on Monday.
The White House condemned Russia’s massive attack, calling it a “classic play” by Vladimir Putin.
“This is a classic strategy of Vladimir Putin to attack energy infrastructure, particularly because he knows that the weather is about to change and people are going to need more and more heat and electricity as temperatures get colder in Ukraine,” John Kirby, the national security communications adviser, told reporters Monday afternoon.
“We condemn in the strongest terms Russia’s ongoing war against Ukraine and its efforts to plunge the Ukrainian people into darkness as autumn approaches and winter draws near,” Kirby added.
The Russian Defense Ministry said Monday it had carried out a “massive strike with long-range precision weapons,” some of which were launched from the sea. Russian drones were sent to strike “critical energy infrastructure that supports the functioning of Ukraine’s military-industrial complex,” the ministry said in a statement.
“All designated targets were hit,” the ministry said.
Ukrainian firefighters extinguish a fire at a site following an airstrike, in the Odessa region, August 26, 2024, as part of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Oleksandr Gimanov/AFP via Getty Images
Several deaths were reported after strikes hit homes in the Dnipropetrovsk region and an apartment building in downtown Lutsk, authorities said.
Rescue services have extinguished 22 fires across the country, according to the State Emergency Service of Ukraine.
Following the strikes, power outages occurred in several regions of Ukraine, including Kiev, Volyn, Rivne, Odessa and Chernihiv, according to local authorities. In the Zhytomyr region, water supplies were interrupted due to power outages, local media reported.
Electric public transport has been interrupted in Odessa due to power supply disruptions, local authorities said.
“There was no significant damage” to the Kiev hydroelectric power station, which was targeted by the Russian attack, said the head of the Kiev regional military administration, Ruslan Kravchenko.
ABC News’ Joe Simonetti and Oleksiy Pshemyskyi contributed to this report.
