Russia attacked towns and cities across Ukraine before dawn on Sunday in another deadly large-scale missile and drone bombardment that the authorities said was aimed in large part at crippling the nation’s energy grid.
President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine said that at least 500 Russian attack drones and 50 missiles were launched overnight. Drones continued to swarm Ukrainian skies throughout the morning and early afternoon on Sunday.
At least five people were killed and more were wounded, Mr. Zelensky said, as the authorities warned that the number of killed and injured would most likely rise.
“Today, the Russians once again targeted our infrastructure — everything that ensures normal life for our people,” Mr. Zelensky said in a statement. “We need more protection and faster implementation of all defense agreements, especially on air defense, to deprive this aerial terror of any meaning.”
Much of the overnight barrage was focused on Lviv, in western Ukraine, where four people were killed when a strike hit a house in a village on the outskirts of the city, according to the local authorities.
As smoke rose over Lviv’s historic downtown, many in the region were left without power as emergency crews raced to repair damage. It was a scene repeated across the vast expanse of the country, with strikes reported in a number of other regions — including Zaporizhzhia, Chernihiv, Sumy, Kharkiv, Kherson, Odesa and Kirovohrad.
Many recent attacks have taken aim at Ukraine’s energy grid, the Ministry of Energy said in a statement, knocking out power to large numbers of people. That came after a pattern that has played out every winter since Russia launched its full scale invasion in February 2022.
At least one person was killed and 73,000 people were left without power in the southern Zaporizhzhia region after strikes there, the local authorities said on Sunday.
“Emergency repair and restoration work is ongoing to restore electricity as quickly as possible,” the energy ministry said.
Anastasia Kuznietsova contributed reporting.
Marc Santora has been reporting from Ukraine since the beginning of the war with Russia. He was previously based in London as an international news editor focused on breaking news events and earlier the bureau chief for East and Central Europe, based in Warsaw. He has also reported extensively from Iraq and Africa.
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