KYIV, Ukraine (AP) – Russia fired a barrage of missiles into Ukraine overnight, in an attack that appears to have targeted the country’s energy infrastructure. Meanwhile, Russia announced that its air defense systems intercepted more than 60 Ukrainian drones over southern Krasnodar.
Ukraine’s air force said Saturday that Russia fired 34 missiles toward Ukraine overnight, 21 of which were shot down by Ukrainian air defense forces.
Energy Minister Herman Khrushchenko said in a Telegram post that energy facilities in Dnipropetrovsk in the south, Ivanofrankivsk and Lviv in the west were attacked, and one engineer was injured.
Private energy operator DTEK said four thermal power plants were damaged and there were “casualties”, but it did not elaborate.
Earlier this month, Russia renewed its attacks on energy facilities in Ukraine, destroying one of Ukraine’s largest power plants and damaging others in a massive missile and drone attack.
Ukraine is appealing to its Western allies to expand their air defense systems to thwart such attacks. At a meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group on Friday, US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin announced that the US would provide Ukraine with additional ammunition and equipment for air defense launchers.
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Further east, Russia launched a missile attack overnight on Ukraine’s second-largest city, Kharkiv, damaging a psychiatric hospital and injuring one person. Photos from the scene showed a huge crater within the facility’s grounds and patients evacuating into hallways. Regional Governor Ole Sinievov said a 53-year-old woman was injured.
Also in the Kharkiv region, one man was killed in an overnight attack on the city of Vovtyansk, Ukraine’s State Emergency Service said.
The Russian Ministry of Defense announced that Russian air defense systems intercepted 66 drones over the country’s southern Krasnodar region. Two more drones were shot down over Crimea, which was annexed by Moscow.
Veniamin Kondratyev, governor of the Krasnodar region, said Ukrainian forces targeted oil refineries and infrastructure facilities, but there were no casualties or significant damage. The regional department of the Ministry of Emergency Situations reported that a fire broke out at the Slavyansk refinery in Slavyansk-on-Kuban during the attack.
Ukrainian authorities usually refrain from commenting on attacks on Russian territory, but Ukraine’s Energy Ministry announced on Saturday that two oil refineries in the Krasnodar region had been attacked by drones.
Five people were injured in a drone attack in a border village in Russia’s Belgorod region, regional governor Vyacheslav Gladkov announced.
