Ukraine hit by huge Russian missile attack as Kyiv makes plea to allies – war latest

President Volodymyr Zelensky said he and his top commander had discussed Ukraine’s response to the largest Russian drone attack on energy facilities since the war began.

“We are preparing it,” Mr Zelensky said of Ukraine’s retaliation, after Moscow attacked it with more than 200 missiles and drones on Monday, killing seven people and striking energy facilities nationwide.

Power cuts and water supply outages were reported in many areas, including parts of Kyiv, as officials said the attack targeted power or other critical infrastructure across the country.

Russia stepped up its strikes on the Ukrainian power grid in March in what Kyiv has said looked like a concerted effort to degrade the system ahead of next winter when people need electricity and heating most.

The air force downed 102 out of 127 incoming missiles and 99 out of 109 drones, Air Force Commander Mykola Oleshchuk said on Telegram, describing the attack from the air, ground and sea as “the most massive” of the war.

According to Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal, 15 regions sustained damage. President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said there was “a lot of damage in the energy sector”.

Zelenskiy said he had discussed Ukraine’s response to the attack with his top commander: “We are preparing it.”

Russia’s defence ministry said its forces used high precision weapons to strike important energy infrastructure in Ukraine which it said supported the military-industrial complex. It listed power substations, gas compressor stations and storage sites for aircraft weapons.

Russia on Monday launched the Ukraine war’s “most massive air attack” against Kyiv and various other cities, striking the former Soviet satellite with what a Ukrainian Air Force commander deemed the “most massive air attack” since the conflict began.

The bombing, via at least 100 Iranian-made drones and at least as many cruise and hypersonic missiles, went after Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, knocking out power across the country. In the process, the Russian attack reportedly killed at least seven people.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the Russian strikes affected at least 15 regions, including Kyiv, the capital, Dnipro, and the southern port of Odessa.

Foreign secretary David Lammy has said he is “deeply saddened” by the death of a former British soldier who had been working as a safety adviser for the Reuters news agency in Ukraine.

Ryan Evans, 38, died after a missile strike on the Hotel Sapphire in Kramatorsk, where he was helping the news organisation cover the war. Two journalists, Daniel Peleschuk and Ivan Lyubysh-Kirdey were injured, with the latter in a critical condition.

“I offer my sincere condolences to his family and loved ones,” said Mr Lammy, adding: “The UK utterly condemns Russia’s cowardly missile and drone attacks on civilian infrastructure across Ukraine today.

“These assaults are in flagrant violation of international law and those responsible must be brought to justice.”

Nato has strongly condemned what it called Russia’s ongoing attacks against Ukrainian civilians and civilian infrastructure, after Poland said a drone likely entered its airspace during a Russian attack on Ukraine earlier today.

“Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Russian drone fragments and missiles have been found on allied territory on several occasions,” Nato spokesperson Farah Dakhlallah said.

“While we have no information indicating an intentional attack by Russia against allies, these acts are irresponsible and potentially dangerous.”

Security services from seven European countries have briefed Norwegian energy executives and officials, including from Equinor – Europe’s largest gas supplier – about what they see as Russian threats to critical infrastructure.

The closed-door meeting attended by national security services from Norway, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, Finland, Sweden and Iceland highlighted Norway’s role as the key energy supplier to Europe.

“We see a developing story which addresses not only Germany or Norwegian colleagues but all of us,” Sinan Selen, the vice president of Germany’s Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, told Reuters after the meeting.

“This is a threat which comes from some counterparts like Russia, including not only espionage operations but also the risk of sabotage in some fields,” he added, declining to discuss specific cases.

Beate Gangaas, the head of Norway’s counterintelligence agency PST, which organised the meeting on the sidelines of the ONS energy conference, told Reuters: “When we are talking about sabotage today, we are talking about Russia.”

In the wake of Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Norway has become Europe’s largest supplier of natural gas, which is delivered via a vast subsea pipeline system.

The two Reuters journalists who have been injured in a missile strike on a hotel in Kramatorsk were Ivan Lyubysh-Kirdey and Daniel Peleschuk, the news agency has said.

“Reuters video journalist Ivan Lyubysh-Kirdey remains in critical condition. Our other colleague, Ukraine correspondent Daniel Peleschuk, was treated and has left the hospital,” Reuters said in a statement.

Lyubysh-Kirdey and Peleschuk were part of a team of six people from Reuters covering the war in Ukraine who were staying at the Hotel Sapphire when it was hit by a missile. Ryan Evans, a safety adviser for the agency, was killed in the strike. The other three team members have been accounted for, Reuters said.

Lyubysh-Kirdey, 40, has worked for Reuters since 2022, and previously worked for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. The father-of-one is a Ukrainian national and was awarded an order of merit by president Volodymyr Zelensky in 2022 for his services to journalism.

The commander of Ukraine’s air force said the country’s forces had downed 102 out of 127 missiles and 99 out of 109 drones launched by Russia in a massive attack on Monday.

Mykola Oleshchuk called the combined strike “the biggest air attack” in a statement on Telegram.