Explosions heard in Kyiv as Russia launches massive drone attack on Ukraine

Amid the ongoing tension between Russia and Ukraine, Russia on 26 August unleashed a massive drone and missile barrage throughout Ukraine, reported PTI.
In the attack, at least three people were reported killed that appeared to target energy infrastructure. This latest attack by Russia on Ukraine is considered to be Russia’s biggest attack against Ukraine in weeks, which began around midnight and continued after daybreak.
There were multiple groups of Russian drones moving towards eastern, northern, southern, and central regions of Ukraine, followed by multiple cruise and ballistic missiles, claimed Ukraine’s air force.
The explosions were so powerful that they were heard in Kyiv, PTI quoted Mayor Vitalii Klitschko as saying, who added power and water supplies in the city have been disrupted by the attack.
The Mayor of Ukraine’s western city of Lutsk – Ihor Polishchuk, said a multi-story residential building and an unspecified infrastructure object were hit, and one person was killed.
Regional head Serhii Lysak said that a person was killed in the central Dnipropetrovsk region, where the attack sparked multiple fires.
Also, one person was also killed in the southeastern, partially occupied region of Zaporizhzhia, regional head Ivan Fedorov said.
In the meantime, Ukraine’s private energy company DTEK introduced emergency blackouts, saying in an online statement that “energy workers throughout the country work 24/7 to restore light in the homes of Ukrainians.”
In neighboring Poland, the military said Polish and NATO air defenses were activated in the eastern part of the country as a result of the attack.
During PM Narendra Modi visit to Ukraine, Zelenskyy on Friday, August 23, highlighted India’s crude oil trade with Russia in a meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Emphasising on India’s “global influence”, Zelensky suggested that India can help end Moscow’s war in Ukraine by halting the oil trade that significantly funds the Russian military.
“You can stop Vladimir Putin and halt his economy, and put him really in his place,” Zelensky said during the meeting with PM Modi.
With agency inputs