Russian missile barrage batters Ukrainian power grid

Communities in several regions of Ukraine on Monday sifted through rubble left behind by hundreds of Russian missiles and drones, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said. It was one of the largest missile barrages Moscow had directed at Ukraine during the war, Zelenskyy added. It comes as winter approaches in both Ukraine and Russia.

What happened in the strike? Roughly 100 Russian rockets and about as many Iranian-manufactured drones struck civilian infrastructure in the Volyn, Lviv, Ivano-Frankivsk, Vinnytsia, Khmelnytskyi, and Ternopil regions, Zelenskyy said. The power grids in the targeted areas sustained serious damage, he said, and crews were working to restore power in many areas amid outages. Zelenskyy called on Western allies to provide more air defenses so Ukraine could better shoot down future Russian barrages like this one.

What does Russia have to say? Russia’s Ministry of Defense on Telegram on Monday acknowledged the attack. It also confirmed that its attacks took place in many of the same regions where Zelenskyy reported them. But the Kremlin claimed the attacks targeted power grids supporting Ukraine’s defense system. Russian forces also targeted sites where Ukraine was storing weapons for its aircraft, the statement said. The attack successfully disrupted Ukrainian military operations, the Kremlin added.

How are things going on the battlefield? Russia’s Ministry of Defense on Monday posted to Telegram footage of what it claimed was Russian forces destroying Ukrainian targets in the Kursk region. The Kremlin earlier in the day alleged its artillery units had up to that point destroyed dozens of Ukrainian armored vehicles and outposts. Earlier this month, Ukrainian troops stormed across the border into Russia. They have remained in the country ever since. Zelenskyy on Sunday only obliquely referenced the Ukrainian operations in Kursk, thanking the troops engaged in the operations.

Dig deeper: Listen to Lindsay Mast’s report on The World and Everything in It podcast about how Ukraine’s incursion into Kursk could shift the balance of the war.