JAKARTA - Russia attacked Ukraine with 16 Shahed drones made in Iran overnight, Ukrainian officials said on Friday, a day after Moscow fired dozens of missiles in its latest attack on critical infrastructure.
An eye witness 20 km south of Kyiv heard several explosions and anti-aircraft gunshots. Towards dawn, the attack appeared to have ended. Residents gradually came out after the relentless day and night bombings.
The Ukrainian military says all drones have been destroyed. Seven have targeted Kyiv, where an administrative building was damaged, said capital Mayor Vitali Klitschko.
Russia has launched a total of 85 missile strikes, 35 airstrikes, and 63 attacks from various rocket launch systems in the past 24 hours, the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces said in a daily briefing.
Meanwhile, Russia's Ministry of Defense said it had carried out "scale attacks" on Ukraine's energy and military industry infrastructure using high-precision weapons, Interfax reported.
It said the attack had disrupted the production and repair of military equipment and the movement of reserve forces.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the attack occurred on energy infrastructure and was mostly repelled.
Areas where power loss is "very difficult" include the capital Kyiv, Odesa, and Kherson in the south and surrounding areas, including around Lviv near the western border with Poland, President Zelensky said.
"But this is nothing compared to what could have happened if it weren't for our heroic anti-aircraft and air defense shooters," President Zelensky said.
Separately, Ukrainian energy network operator Ukrenergo said the deficit in Ukraine's energy system was at the same level as before Thursday's attack.
"The consequences of the damage have a much smaller impact on the operation of the power system than the enemy expects," he explained, adding the situation was "mainly difficult" in the southern and eastern regions.
Since October, Russia has launched nearly every week missile and drone attacks against civilian infrastructure across Ukraine, leaving millions without heat or electricity as winter arrives.
Russia says its goal is to reduce Ukraine's ability to fight. Instead, Kyiv said the attack had no military purpose and was meant to hurt civilians, a war crime.
In addition to energy infrastructure, the Ukrainian military said Moscow forces also opened fire on 20 settlements around the city of Bakhmut that were bombed in eastern Ukraine, where fighting was fiercest, and more than 25 settlements in the Kherson and Zaporizhia regions.
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