The anti-aircraft sirens sounded this Friday morning in all the Ukrainian regions, indicating an imminent attack with drones and missiles by the Russian Army, which during the early hours of the morning already intensified its offensive in the area of Zaporizhia and Dnepropetrovsk, in the southeast of the country. in what the Ukrainian military has described as the biggest missile attack on Ukraine since the invasion of the country began nearly a year ago. The "massive attack", in the words of the Ukrainian army, came a day after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's tour of Europe, in which he has demanded more weapons from his allies.
The Ministry of Energy reported that power facilities in six regions were attacked, information confirmed by Ukraine's power grid operator, Ukrenergo, which located the damage in the east, south and west of the country. As the authorities have ordered power cuts across the country.
Russia launched 71 cruise missiles at Ukraine on Friday and 61 of them were shot down, according to the Ukrainian air force. "As of 11:30 local time, the enemy had launched 71 X-101, X-555 and Kalibr missiles. The air defense forces, the Air Force and other components of the Ukrainian Defense Forces destroyed 61 cruise missiles" , Ukrainian aviation reported on Telegram.
Earlier, the Ukrainian army had estimated that Russian troops "fired a record number of 'S-300' type missiles at Ukraine last night, including up to 35 in the Zaporizhia (southeast) and Kharkiv (northeast) regions." record," said the spokesman for the Ukrainian Air Force, Yurii Ihnat, on local television, which is reported by the Ukrinform agency. According to the Ukrainian Air Force, Russia also fired "six Kalibr cruise missiles", and used "seven Shahed drones", the Iranian-made suicide drones.
Ihnat claimed that Ukrainian air defenses had shot down five of the seven drones and five of the six Kalibr missiles launched at Ukraine.
According to local media reports, "an air raid siren was activated in Kyiv at 08:27 local time (on Friday) and then repeated throughout the country in a few minutes." The mayor of the city, Vitali Klichkó, assured that ten missiles had been shot down over the capital.
This is part of "the latest massive Russian missile attack in Ukraine, using cruise missiles launched both from the air and from the sea," according to the governor of the Mykolaiv region, Viitaliy Kim, who specified that some 20 have been launched. missiles in the first wave of attacks. Two Kalibr missiles launched from the Black Sea entered Moldovan airspace, Ukraine's Armed Forces Commander-in-Chief Valeriy Zaluzhnyi said, also saying the missiles flew over NATO country Romania, although his Defense Ministry confirmed it. denied. Moldova has called the Russian ambassador for consultations.
On the other hand, Serhii Popko, Head of the Military Administration of the City of Kyiv, indicated today that Russia has deployed several strategic bomber aircraft of the "Tu-95" type, which are capable of carrying cruise missiles.
This situation occurs after the Russians have increased this morning and notably the attacks on the Ukrainian region of Zaporizhia, in the southeast of the country and where the largest nuclear power plant in Europe is located, now in the hands of Russia, which controls part of the from the area.
In a single hour, at least 17 missiles hit the city of Zaporizhia, the strongest attack since Russia invaded Ukraine in February last year, local officials estimated. Explosions were also heard in Vinnitsa, while in the neighboring Dnepropetrovsk region, local authorities warned of a drone strike.
The Kyiv Independent said that seven more missiles have been fired at the area of Kryvyi Rih, Zelensky's hometown, according to Oleksandr Vilkul, head of the city's military administration. Also in Khmelnitskyi, in the west, hits were recorded.
