Russia hits Ukrainian energy facilities in biggest attack in weeks

KYIV:

Russia pounded energy facilities across Ukraine on Thursday in its biggest missile attack for weeks, firing what Ukrainian officials saw as the first salvo in a new air campaign against the national power grid.

Power cuts were reported in five Ukrainian regions in the west, centre and east, reviving memories of multiple air strikes on critical infrastructure last winter that caused sweeping outages for millions during the bitter cold.

Officials said at least 18 people were wounded in the air strikes, including a nine-year-old girl, and a regional governor said two people were killed in separate overnight Russian shelling.

"Winter is coming. Tonight (Russia) renews missile attacks on Ukrainian energy infrastructure," lawmaker Andrii Osadchuk wrote on platform X.

Grid operator Ukrenergo said it was the first Russian attack on power infrastructure in six months, and reported damage to facilities in western and central regions.

The attack caused blackouts in the Rivne, Zhytomyr, Kyiv, Dnipropetrovsk and Kharkiv regions, it said.

Ukraine has been racing to repair infrastructure after the attacks last winter damaged nearly half its energy system and forced grid operators to impose regular rolling power cuts.

This year, Ukraine has better, Western-supplied air defences, but still has a huge challenge defending against attacks across such a big country.

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, visiting the United States following the U.N. General Assembly, condemned what he called "another massive attack".

Outlining Ukraine's needs before a meeting with U.S. President Joe Biden, he wrote on the Telegram messaging app: "More air defence. More sanctions. More support for Ukrainian soldiers on the front lines."

Biden was set to announce a new $325 million military aid package for Kyiv, which was expected to include a second tranche of cluster munitions fired by a 155-millimetre howitzer cannon.