Russian President Vladimir Putin has confirmed a massive overnight missile and drone assault on Ukraine’s power grid, framing it as retaliation for Kyiv’s recent use of long-range Western weapons inside Russian territory. Speaking at a summit in Kazakhstan, Putin declared that Russia’s attacks included 90 missiles and 100 drones, hitting 17 military facilities and civilian infrastructure targets across Ukraine.
“We carried out a comprehensive strike,” Putin stated, adding that Russia had launched 100 missiles and 466 drones over two days. He also warned that “decision-making centres” in Kyiv could soon face strikes from Oreshnik, a new ballistic missile deployed last week on Dnipro.
The assault is the second on Ukraine’s energy system this month, plunging over a million Ukrainians into darkness. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky condemned the strikes as a “vile escalation,” accusing Russia of deploying cluster munitions against civilian infrastructure.
Russia’s escalation follows Ukraine’s unprecedented use of UK and US-supplied long-range weaponry to strike Russian territory last week. Moscow has signalled its determination to respond forcefully, threatening further retaliation and raising fears of strikes on critical Ukrainian political and military hubs.
While no fatalities were reported in the latest attack, its scale and potential for escalation have prompted renewed calls for international intervention as winter intensifies the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine.
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