Russia pounds Ukrainian infrastructure while downplaying peace talks progress
Among the widespread areas targeted was the southern port city of Odesa, which came under fire Monday night for the second time in 24 hours, with damage to the docks and a civilian ship, regional officials there said.
โItโs getting harder psychologically,โ said Olena Davydovska, 51, a consultant who along with other residents in the city has only just emerged from five whole days without power. โIโm such an optimist in life. But every day, this optimism somehow decreases and decreases. And finding some reasons to smile is becoming more and more difficult.โ
โSometimes, I feel powerless and that there is some kind of boundless darkness ahead,โ she added.
According to the Ukrainian air force, some 621 of the drones and missiles were downed by anti-aircraft defenses, as well as its own planes. But dozens got through. It said it detected 39 strikes, as well as eight instances in which drone debris rained down.
The damage was widespread. In Kyiv, one person was killed and eight others injured, including two children; in the central Zhytomyr region, one child was killed and five more civilians were injured, including a child; in western Khmelnytskyy, one civilian died; and in the southern city of Kherson, one person died and nine others were injured, regional officials in those places said.
The attacks targeted not only residential areas, but also the energy infrastructure that powers and heats their homes.
โDue to a massive missile and drone attack on energy infrastructure, emergency power outages have been introduced in several regions of Ukraine,โ national energy company UkrEnego said in a statement.
The attack was so widespread that it triggered Poland โ a member of NATO and the European Union โ to scramble an unspecified number of fighter jets, its armed forces said in a statement.
โThese actions are of a preventive nature and are aimed at securing the airspace and its protection, especially in areas adjacent to the threatened zones,โ the countryโs army said.
Daryna Mayer reported from Kyiv and Alexander Smith from London.
