Russia Defends 110 Missiles And 10 Iranian-made Drones, President Zelensky Calls Target Energy Infrastructure

Rescue workers in the Kyiv apartment, Ukraine, were attacked by Russia. (Wikimedia Commons/State Emergency Service of Ukraine)

JAKARTA - Russia hit cities across Ukraine with missiles on Tuesday, an attack that Kyiv said was the toughest wave of attacks nearly nine months after the Russian invasion. Some of the missiles launched yesterday hit the western city of Lviv, less than 80 km from the border with Poland.

Airstrike sirens and explosions were heard in nearly a dozen major Ukrainian cities, echoing patterns in recent weeks as Moscow strikes away from the front lines after its 'loss' on the battlefield.

Russia launched 110 missiles and 10 Iranian-made drone attacks on Ukraine in the afternoon, the Ukrainian armed forces General Staff said in a statement.

President Volodymyr Zelensky said the main target of missile attack was energy infrastructure, as before, though adding only 10 targeted targets had been hit.

"It's clear what the enemy wants. He's not going to achieve this," he said in a video address on the messaging app Telegram.

Kyiv said such attacks only strengthened his determination to expel the Russian troops that invaded in February.

In the capital Kyiv, the fire came out of a five-story apartment block after being hit by what residents said appeared to be fragments of the missile being shot down.

Emergency services said one person was confirmed dead and another injured. Mayor Kyiv said half of the capital was left without electricity.

Attacks or other explosions were reported in cities ranging from Lviv and Zhytomyr in the west to Kryvy Rih in the south and Kharkiv in the east. Local officials reported several attacks had shut down power, water and heating.

The attack has left millions of Ukrainians losing energy in 16 of the country's 24 regions including Kyiv, the UN humanitarian office (OCHA) said in a statement.

Meanwhile, citing the BBC, President Zelensky also accused Russia of trying to "turn the cold into weapons against millions of people" by bombarding Ukraine's main energy infrastructure ahead of winter, while attending Bali's G20 Summit online.