At least three people have been killed as Russia launches a major offensive across Ukraine, severely damaging some power and water supplies.
On Monday morning, explosions struck several cities, including Kiev, and more than half of the country was hit.
Authorities in Zaporizhzhia, Lutsk and central Dnipropetrovsk regions each reported deaths in large-scale air strikes using missiles and drones.
The Ukrainian prime minister said Russia was attacking Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, a long-term tactic by Moscow’s military.
The Ukrainian Air Force said via Telegram that drone and missile strikes began nationwide on Monday night and continued into the morning.
Explosions were heard in cities from Lutsk in the west to Dnipro in the east, people were advised to stay in shelters and the entire country was put on air raid alert.
Ukrainian Prime Minister Denis Shmygal said 15 regions were targeted in the attacks, which he said targeted energy infrastructure and used weapons including drones, cruise missiles and hypersonic missiles.
“There are injured and dead people,” Schmihal said on the Telegram social media app.
A 69-year-old man was killed in the Dnipropetrovsk region, Governor Sergiy Lysak said, adding that several houses were damaged.
The governor of Zaporizhzhia said a man was killed when his house was bombed, while the mayor of Lutsk said one person was killed when “infrastructure” was hit.
Five people were injured in an attack on an “industrial facility” in the central Poltava region, the governor said, urging people to stay in shelters until bedtime.
The attacks resulted in severe damage to some infrastructure, with power outages and water supply disruptions reported in several cities, including Kiev.
Energy company DTEK warned that emergency blackouts had been declared and engineers were working to restore power across the country.
Russia has been attacking Ukraine’s energy infrastructure since the beginning of its full-scale invasion in February 2022.
In recent months, they have resumed their campaign of attacks on the power grid, which has led to frequent blackouts across the country.
In June President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russia has destroyed half of the country’s power generation capacity since it began bombing energy facilities in late March.
Ukraine buys energy from the European Union, but that is not enough, and most days, nationwide blackouts are planned to protect essential facilities such as hospitals and military installations.
In recent months, Russian forces have made slow but steady advances in the east.
Meanwhile, Ukraine recently launched a surprise offensive in Kursk, which was seen as an attempt to draw troops away from the Eastern Front. Experts say the effort failed because Moscow’s forces were heavily engaged in fighting in Ukraine.
On Monday, Ukraine attempted to attack an oil refinery in Yaroslavl, a city northeast of Moscow, the regional governor said. There were no reports of casualties or damage.
The Russian Defense Ministry said it had destroyed nine drones in the Saratov region, 560 miles (900 kilometers) from the Ukrainian border.
Andriy Yermak, a senior adviser to President Volodymyr Zelensky, urged Ukraine’s allies in a Telegram message to allow them to launch long-range strikes against Russia using Western-supplied weapons.
