War in Ukraine, day 915 | ‘Massive’ Russian strikes kill at least four

(Kyiv) “Massive” Russian missile and drone strikes targeted Ukraine’s energy infrastructure on Monday, killing at least four people and forcing authorities to impose power cuts.

According to Kyiv, 15 regions of Ukraine were targeted by this Russian bombing campaign, the most significant in several weeks with, according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, “more than 100 missiles of various types and a hundred [drones] Shahed”.

A “flying aircraft”, probably a Shahed, entered the territory of Poland, a NATO member country, before disappearing from the radar on Monday morning at the time of the Russian strikes, the Polish army announced.

“We could do much more to protect lives if our European neighbours’ air forces worked together with our [chasseurs] “F-16 and with our anti-aircraft defenses,” Volodymyr Zelensky reacted even before the Polish announcement.

“There is a lot of damage in the energy sector. Repair work is already underway,” he said in a Telegram address.

For its part, the Russian Defense Ministry said it had carried out a “massive strike” against military airfields and energy sites “enabling the functioning of Ukraine’s military-industrial complex.”

“All targets have been hit,” he assured, also on Telegram.

Ukrainian energy distributor Ukrenergo has carried out emergency power cuts to stabilise the grid, briefly bringing rail traffic to a standstill.

“We get used to it”

In Kyiv, residents have taken refuge in underground metro stations, AFP journalists observed.

“Nobody thought that Russia, which was once our sister, would cause us so much grief,” explained Svetlana Kravchenko, 51, at a station in the city centre.

After two and a half years of war, anti-aircraft alarms are frequently sounding over Ukrainian territory.

The last deadly attack on the capital was on July 8, when a Russian missile hit a pediatric center, killing around forty people.

“Even though it’s terrible, you get used to it,” confided a dejected Lyudmila Pshenichna, 58, who also took refuge in the metro station.

Since the start of its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Russia has regularly bombed its neighbor’s energy infrastructure, forcing authorities there to ration electricity, particularly during heatwaves.

“The enemy is again terrorizing the whole of Ukraine with its missiles,” Energy Minister German Galushchenko said.

According to Ukrainian authorities, aerial bombardments earlier in the day left at least four dead and around twenty injured across the country.

Two other people died in subsequent Russian strikes, officials said.

“Deterioration” of security conditions

A Russian drone appears to have gotten lost over Polish territory this morning.

“We are probably dealing with the entry of a flying machine into Polish territory,” said General Maciej Klisz, commander-in-chief of the Polish operational forces. Its presence “has been confirmed by at least three radiolocation stations.”

The device has not yet been found and may have left Polish territory.

“It could be, with a high probability, a Shahed-type drone,” said Colonel Jacek Goryszewski, spokesman for the operational forces command. “But this remains to be verified,” he told AFP.

At the same time, the Russian army continues its advance to the East against fewer Ukrainian troops.

In the eastern Donetsk region, authorities have decided to expand evacuations to the area around Kostiantynivka, located about fifteen kilometers from the front line, due to “deteriorating security conditions.”

On Monday, both the Ukrainian prime minister and the presidential chief of staff also reiterated the importance of being able to use long-range Western weapons against Russia.

Kyiv’s partners are refusing for the time being.

“This is necessary,” Andriy Yermak, the head of the presidential office, said on Telegram, explaining that this “will accelerate the end of Russian terror.”