Russia has launched a large-scale attack on Ukraine, involving dozens of cruise missiles and drones.
Russia launched 93 missiles and nearly 200 drones in one of its largest wartime attacks on Ukraine’s energy system on Friday, president Volodymyr Zelenskiy said.
Mr Zelenskiy said Ukrainian air defences managed to shoot down 81 Russian missiles, including 11 missiles that were downed by F-16 fighter jets.
The Russian military targeted the Ukrainian power grid, energy minister Herman Halushchenko wrote on his Facebook page. “The enemy continues its terror,” he said.
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Ukraine’s air force reported multiple strike drones were launched overnight followed by swarms of cruise missiles in the country’s airspace.
It said Russia also used air-launched ballistic Kinzhal missiles against Ukraine’s western regions.
Ukraine’s energy system has already suffered 11 Russian attack waves this year, which have caused widespread damage and lengthy power cuts all over the country.
Friday’s attack prompted additional restrictions on power usage for consumers, according to the national grid operator Ukrenergo. All of Ukraine was under air raid alarms.
Local authorities reported multiple explosions in the southern city of Odesa and Kyiv regional authorities said air defence systems were operating.
Foreign minister Andrii Sybiha called on partners to deliver more air defence systems urgently.
“Russia aims to deprive us of energy. Instead, we must deprive it of the means of terror. I reiterate my call for the urgent delivery of 20 NASAMS, HAWK, or IRIS-T air defense systems,” Mr Sybiha wrote in a post on X.
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s chief of staff said in an interview broadcast late on Thursday that Kyiv was not yet ready to start talks with Russia as it lacked the weapons, security guarantees and international status that it sought.
Andriy Yermak’s comments to public broadcaster Suspilne come as Mr Zelenskiy publicly considers the possibility of a negotiated settlement to the war with Russia, launched by Moscow’s full-scale invasion of its neighbour in February 2022.
“Not just yet today,” Mr Yermak told Suspilne, when asked whether Ukraine was ready to embark on talks.
“We don’t have the weapons, we don’t have the status that we are talking about. And that means an invitation to Nato and an understanding of clear guarantees that would provide for us, so that we could be sure that [Russian president Vladimir] Putin won’t be coming back in two-three years.”
In comments this week alongside German opposition leader Friedrich Merz, Mr Zelenskiy said Ukraine wanted an end to the war and efforts were needed to make his country stronger and oblige the Kremlin to work towards peace.
In recent public pronouncements, the president has also said talks could take place with Russia still holding on to territory it has seized in the invasion.
But Ukraine, he said, needed an invitation issued to the entire country to join Nato, though the alliance’s status would apply to the territory controlled by Kyiv authorities and real security guarantees had to be put in place.
Russian forces are just 1.5km (one mile) outside the Ukrainian city of Pokrovsk after Russian units pushed up from the south towards the road and rail hub which had a pre-war population of 60,000 people, a prominent pro-Russian blogger said on Friday.
Ukraine’s military said on Wednesday that Russian troops destroyed or captured several Ukrainian positions near the city.
Russia controls a chunk of Ukraine about the size of the American state of Virginia and is advancing at the fastest pace since the early days of the 2022 invasion, according to open source maps.
Russia’s defence ministry said that its Eastern Grouping of forces has seized over 300sq km in Ukraine over the past month and captured seven settlements, Russian news agencies reported on Friday. – Agencies