The whole of Ukraine has been placed under an air raid warning as Vladimir Putin unleashed the biggest missile attack on the country since his invasion in 2022.
Explosions shook the area around the capital, Kyiv, as well as eight other regions stretching from Kharkiv in the east to Lviv, close to the Polish border in the west.
One witness described Russia’s missiles as ‘raining down on Ukraine’.
In Lutsk, a western city far from the Russian border, a residential building was destroyed.
The fiery dawn will be seen as a demonstration of Putin’s wrath over Ukraine’s audacious incursion into his country, which has been continuing for weeks.
Within a week of crossing the border on August 5, some Ukrainian troops had pushed 20 miles deep into enemy territory in an effort to change the dynamic of future negotiations to end the war.
Three key bridges have been blown up in Kursk, dealing a blow to Russian military supply lines.
But today’s attack came from the air, with Tu-22M3 and Tu-95 strategic bombers sent to exact revenge on Kyiv for the move.
Ukraine’s national electricity operator Ukrenergo ordered emergency blackouts across the country to preserve power after parts of Kryvyi Rih, Odesa, and the capital region went dark.
Andriy Yermak, head of Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky’s office, said: ‘The desire to destroy our energy industry will cost the Russians dearly – [in hits on their] their infrastructure.’
The attack comes two days after a former British soldier was killed when a missile hit his hotel in the eastern city of Kramatorsk.
Zelensky sent his ‘condolences to family and friends’ of Ryan Evans, 38, who was working as a safety advisor for news agency Reuters.
Two journalists are being treated in hospital following the explosion on Saturday, one of whom has serious injuries.
Putin’s US ambassador Anatoly Antonov had earlier described the leader’s rage over the first invasion of Russian territory since the Second World War.
He said: ‘I’m telling you sincerely that the [Russian] President has made the decision.
‘I am firmly convinced that all those responsible will be punished heavily for the events in the Kursk Region.’
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