Damage to power plants

Russia overruns Ukraine with air strikes

Fire departments attempted to extinguish the fires after the Russian missile attacks. Energy plants were the main target of the air strikes.(Bild: APA/Ukrainian Emergency Service via AP)

Russia has hit Ukraine with new massive missile attacks. The air force in Kiev reported on Saturday morning that 21 of a total of 34 missiles and cruise missiles of various types had been fired. The attacks were carried out from the air, from the Black Sea and from the ground, it said. 

According to the energy company DTEK, a total of four thermal power plants were severely damaged. People were also injured. "They are receiving the help they need," the company said.

Air strikes mainly targeted power plants
Workers are currently trying to repair the damage. Earlier, there had been a nationwide air alert. According to the Ministry of Energy in Kiev, the air strikes were primarily aimed at energy facilities.

Attacks were reported in the Dnipropetrovsk, Lviv (formerly Lviv) and Ivano-Frankivsk regions. According to the authorities, two energy plants were hit in the Dnipropetrovsk region.

Hospital grounds hit
The authorities also reported several explosions in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, which is close to the Russian border and has been repeatedly shelled. The site of a hospital was also hit by Russian shelling, it was reported.

The grounds of a hospital in Kharkiv were also hit.(Bild: APA/AFP/SERGEY BOBOK)

The buildings were damaged by the blast wave and some of the windows were broken. One patient was injured in her bed. The authorities also published pictures of the damage.

Attacks on Russia too
Russia, whose war of aggression against Ukraine has brought death and destruction to the neighboring country for more than two years, was again the target of attacks. The Russian air defense announced that 66 drones had been intercepted and destroyed by the Ukrainian side in the Krasnodar region.

According to the local authorities, an oil processing plant in the region was also damaged in a fire. No one was injured. The Black Sea peninsula of Crimea, which was annexed by Russia in 2014, also reported the shooting down of two drones. The information could not initially be verified.