Russia launches ‘nightmare’ deadly drone and missile strikes across Ukraine, Kyiv says

(LONDON) — Russia launched a deadly large-scale attack across 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 aerial attacks since war began in 2022, with Russia using at least 127 missiles and 109 drones in its attack against Ukraine, according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

“And like most previous Russia strikes, this one is just as dastardly, targeting critical civilian infrastructure,” Zelenskyy said in Ukrainian, adding later that Russian President Vladimir Putin “can only do what the world allows him to do.”

Critical infrastructure, the energy sector and railroads were targeted in the attack, Zelenskyy said.

“What is happening now in Kyiv is unbelievable horror. Pray for us,” Kira Rudick, a member of Ukrainian Parliament, said on social media. She later added, “What happened today? Nightmare.”

Some residents in Kyiv, the capital, took shelter in the city’s subways as Russia launched its “massive” attack across the country, Olga Stefanishyna, deputy prime minister, said on social media. She included local news video that appeared to show throngs of people standing along a train platform.

Kyiv was among the 15 areas throughout Ukraine struck in the attack, which began early in the morning and continued into the afternoon, lasting for at least 12 hours, officials said.

“Attack UAVs are attacking Kyiv from various directions right now,” the Kyiv City Military Administration said, referring to uncrewed aerial vehicles, or drones.

The administration added, “Air defense soldiers have already destroyed a total of about one-and-a-half dozen enemy drones that were headed for the capital. The air alert in Kyiv has been going on for more than 6 hours.”

The strikes followed Ukraine’s Independence Day celebrations on Saturday. Russia had on Saturday struck several pieces of Ukrainian infrastructure, knocking out power for many. The U.S. Embassy in Kyiv was helping restore power on Sunday after Russia’s “barbaric attacks,” according to the U.S. State Department’s official Russian social media accounts.

Russia in its Monday attack also targeted energy infrastructure in an attempt to “terrorize all of Ukraine” and to “deprive Ukrainians of electricity,” the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, the country’s parliament, said. Engineers were working midmorning to restore power to many, the parliament said.

“The desire to destroy our energy will cost the Russians dearly — their infrastructure,” Andrii Yermak, an adviser to Zelenskyy, said in Ukrainian on the messaging app Telegram on Monday.

The Russian Defense Ministry said on Monday it had carried out a “massive strike with long-range precision weapons,” including some that were launched from the sea. Russian drones were sent to strike “critical energy infrastructure facilities that supported the operation of the military-industrial complex of Ukraine,” the ministry said in a statement.

“All designated targets were hit,” the ministry said.

Three people were killed and at least 24 people were wounded as a result of the attacks on Ukraine Monday that lasted for more than eight hours, local authorities across the country said.

At least one person was killed Monday in the Dnipropetrovsk region, the Ukrainian Emergency Service said in a statement.

A strike there destroyed two houses and damaged four others, the service said. A fire was burning as emergency officials arrived, the service said.

“A man born in 1955 died as a result of the attack,” the service said. “Another man who was under the rubble was also rescued. He was found by rescuers and handed over to medics.”

In Lutsk, a Russian drone hit an apartment block in the city center, killing one person, Lutsk Mayor Igor Polishchuk said in a post on Telegram.

At least three people were injured in the Mykolaiv region, Vitaly Kim, head of the regional military administration, said on Telegram.

“Everything is under control,” Kim said. “Charge your devices just in case.”

After the strikes, blackouts started in multiple regions in Ukraine, including Kyiv, Volyn, Rivne, Odesa, Chernihiv, among others, according to local authorities. In the Zhytomyr region, water supply has stopped due to power outages, local media reported.

Public electric transportation operations stopped in Odesa due to power supply disruptions, local authorities said.

There was “no significant damages” at the Kyiv Hydroelectric Power Plant, which was targeted in Russia’s attack, the Kyiv Regional Military Administration, Ruslan Kravchenko, said.

ABC News’ Joe Simonetti and Oleksiy Pshemyskyi contributed to this report.

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