Massive Russian strikes hit Ukraine for second day

Massive Russian strikes hit Ukraine for second day

Russia has targeted Ukraine with another wave of strikes, a day after one of its biggest air attacks of the war.

Air raid alerts were issued early on Tuesday, as Ukrainian monitors detected Russian aircraft launching hypersonic missiles. Mass drone attacks have also been reported.

Ukraine’s air defence forces say the whole country is under threat of a ballistic weapon attack.

A statement from the Russian defence ministry said long-range air and sea-based precision weaponry had been used to strike power stations and related infrastructure across Ukraine, including in Kyiv, Lviv and the Kharkiv and Odesa regions.

At least six people died overnight Sunday to Monday and dozens were wounded as more than half of Ukraine’s regions were attacked by drones and missiles.

Power infrastructure was hit causing blackouts in many cities, with water supplies also affected.

US President Joe Biden called the attacks “outrageous”, saying Washington would continue to support Ukraine’s energy grid.

UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy condemned “Russia’s cowardly missile and drone attacks on civilian infrastructure”.

Three people are already known to have died in the latest round of attacks.

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A civilian infrastructure building was hit in the eastern city of Kryvyi Rih late on Monday, killing two. Several people are missing.

And Zaporizhzhia regional administration head Ivan Fedorov said one man had been killed and a man and a woman injured in the city of Zaporizhzhia.

Local official Yevhen Sytnychenko reported the deaths, saying houses, shops and vehicles had been damaged in the incident.

Kryvyi Rih is the home city of Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Explosions have also been reported in Kyiv, Sumy, Khmelnytsky and Mykolayiv regions.

Launches of several hypersonic Kinzhal (dagger) ballistic missiles, which are hard for air defences to intercept, have been detected.

The latest attacks are being seen as an attempt by Moscow to reassert its control over the conflict after Ukraine’s recent gains of territory in Russia’s Kursk region.

Russia has been targeting Ukraine’s energy infrastructure since early on in its full-scale invasion, which began in February 2022.

In recent months it has renewed its campaign of attacks on the power grid, causing frequent blackouts across the country.

On Monday, Mr Zelensky called on Western allies including the UK, the US and France to change their rules and let Ukraine use their weapons to strike deeper inside Russia.

Ukraine is allowed to use some Western weapons to hit targets inside Russia – but not long-range weapons.

Mr Zelensky said “we could do much more to protect lives” if European air forces worked with Ukraine’s air defence.

Massive Russian strikes hit Ukraine for second day

BBC