Russia launches year’s most concentrated barrage on Ukraine, officials and media say
By Pavel Polityuk
KYIV, Jan 13 (Reuters) – Russian forces launched the year’s most intense wave of missile attacks on Ukraine early on Tuesday, killing four people and injuring scores more. Emergency power outages were imposed in Kiev due to damage to the infrastructure.
Ukraine’s grid operator Ukrenergo said emergency power outages were imposed in Kiev after the head of the Kiev military administration, Timur Tkachenko, earlier said there had been a brief but intense missile attack on the capital.
DTEK, a private Ukrainian energy company, said the Russian attack severely damaged equipment at one of the thermal power plants.
Russia has repeatedly targeted Ukraine’s energy system with missiles and drones since it launched its invasion in February 2022. Ukraine’s air defenses aim to disrupt electricity and heating supplies in the winter as they struggle to thwart waves of attacks.
Ukrainian Telegram monitoring channels said about 20 ballistic missiles were launched in about an hour, describing it as the most sustained attack so far this year. Reuters could not independently verify the reports.
Ukrainian armed forces did not immediately comment on the full extent of the attack. No statement was made from Russia regarding the strikes.
In Kharkiv, 30 km (18 miles) from the Russian border and also a frequent target of Moscow, four people were killed in an attack on the outskirts of the city, regional Governor Oleh Syniehubov said.
Six people were injured, Syniehubov said.
Ukraine’s State Emergency Service said the Kharkiv attack targeted a postal terminal, destroying buildings and causing multiple fires in an area of about 500 square meters. It was stated that rescue teams took 30 people, including two from under the rubble, to a safe place.
Five people were injured in a Russian attack overnight in the southern port city of Odessa, the service said. Fires were reported in an unused new building, a gym and a vocational school.
Two people were injured in a Russian attack on the industrial city of Kryvyi Rih in central Ukraine, which damaged civilian infrastructure, homes and gas pipelines, the regional governor said.
(Reporting by Pavel Polityuk, Valentyn Ogirenko, Lidia Kelly, Ron Popeski and Alexandar Vasovic; Editing by David Gregorio and Lincoln Feast.)
