Kyiv: In one of the biggest attacks since the beginning of the war, Russia on Friday fired more than 70 missiles at Ukraine, knocking out power in the second-biggest city and forcing Kyiv to implement emergency blackouts nationwide.
Reportedly, three people were killed when an apartment block was hit in central Kryvyi Rih and another died in shelling in Kherson in the south, they said. Russian-installed officials in occupied eastern Ukraine said 12 people had died by Ukrainian shelling.
In an evening video address, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russia still had enough missiles for several more massive strikes and he again urged western allies to supply Kyiv with more and better air defence systems.
Zelensky said Ukraine was strong enough to bounce back. “Whatever the rocket worshippers from Moscow are counting on, it still won’t change the balance of power in this war,” he said.
Kyiv warned on Thursday that Moscow planned a new all-out offensive early next year, around a year after its Feb. 24 invasion, in which wide areas of Ukraine have been shattered by missiles and artillery but little of it taken by Russian forces.
Russia has rained missiles on Ukrainian energy infrastructure almost weekly since early October after several battlefield defeats, but Friday’s attack seemed to inflict more damage than many others, with snow and ice now widespread.
(With agency inputs)