President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Telegram that Russia fired 70 missiles and drones in one of its biggest strikes on Ukraine, hitting the energy sector and killing at least 11 people. "One of the key targets was our energy infrastructure," he said.
"The Russians wanted to strike painfully and demonstratively." He said ballistic missiles remain the greatest challenge, and that air defence packages are a vital necessity. The Ukrainian air force said Russia launched 130 drones, 48 cruise missiles and ballistic missiles, and that air defence units downed 161 targets.
The strikes focused on Kyiv, Poltava, Dnipropetrovsk and Kharkiv. Dmytro Lubinets, Ukraine's parliamentary commissioner for human rights, said on Telegram that the country was hit through the night in another act of terror.
Russia's defence ministry said its forces struck military-industrial facilities with high-precision weapons and drones. In Pryluki, in the northern Chernihiv region, a missile hit a five-storey residential building, killing at least four people on the spot and wounding 20.
Regional authorities warned that more people could be under the rubble. Video showed rescuers pulling people from the wreckage.