damage to Kyiv electrical facility
Russian missiles and “kamikaze” drones struck the southern city of Zaporizhzhia – home to Europe’s largest nuclear reactor – early Saturday, part of a regional assault that has killed 11 civilians in recent days, Ukrainian officials said.
At least 10 C300 missiles hit the city, according to the head of Zaporizhzhia’s regional military administration, Oleksandr Starukh. The missiles damaged unidentified “infrastructure facilities” in what Anatoliy Kurtev, the acting mayor of Zaporizhzhya, called an “insidious attack.”
The missile strikes followed an overnight incursion of four explosive-equipped drones known as “kamikazes” for their ability to hover undetected before locating and diving into a target and self-immolating.
Civilians throughout southeastern Ukraine – eight in the Donetsk region, two in the Zaporizhzhia region, and one in Kharkiv – were killed in the last day, according to Kyrylo Tymoshenko, deputy head of the Ukrainian president’s office.
Meanwhile, a missile strike caused “serious” damage to an energy provider near the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv as Russian forces stepped up their campaign to cut off water and electricity throughout the country.
Electricity transmission company Ukrenergo said Saturday that emergency repair crews had been dispatched to the scene, but warned of power outages and asked residents to limit their use of electricity during peak nighttime hours, according to a report.
Kyiv region Gov. Oleksiy Kuleba said the strike did not kill or wound anyone.
The Kremlin is launching renewed missile strikes following a truck bomb explosion a week ago that damaged the bridge that links Russia to the annexed Crimean Peninsula.
Earlier this week, Russian attacks targeted residential buildings, killing dozens of people, and urban infrastructure such as power stations in the capital and other cities throughout the country.