UPDATE - Ukraine says 'massive' Russian missile attack targeted energy infrastructure

REVISES DECK; ADDS LATEST STATEMENTS BY UKRAINIAN AUTHORITIES; MINOR EDIT

By Burc Eruygur

ISTANBUL (AA) - Ukraine said on Thursday that a "massive" Russian missile attack had targeted the country's energy infrastructure

“The energy sector is once again under massive attack by the enemy. Strikes on energy facilities are happening across Ukraine,” Energy Minister Herman Halushchenko said on Facebook.

Saying that the country’s power grid operator Ukrenergo made emergency power cuts, Halushchenko added that the extent of the damage inflicted will be assessed once the security situation allows it.

Serhiy Popko, head of the Kyiv City Military Administration, said on Telegram that fragments from downed missiles fell on the territory of an enterprise in the capital’s Darnytskyi district, damaging several outbuildings.

In Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, Governor Oleh Synyehubov said on Telegram that a civilian enterprise was damaged by the attack.

Power outages were also reported by local authorities across multiple regions of Ukraine, including Lviv, Rivne, and Volyn.

Ukrainian private energy provider DTEK said the power cuts implemented by Ukrenergo have affected Kyiv, as well as the Odesa, Dnipropetrovsk, and Donetsk regions.

Elsewhere, Ukraine’s national railway company Ukrzaliznytsia said that more than 150 of its trains are running on schedule despite the missile strikes, which it said resulted in power cuts in certain sections of the country’s railway system.

In a later statement, Ukraine's Air Force claimed that its air defenses shot down 79 out of 91 missiles and 35 out of 97 drones launched by Russia on the country since late Wednesday.

"Every such attack underscores the urgent need for advanced air defense systems in Ukraine – systems that save lives rather than sitting idle in storage depots," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy also said on X.

He went on to say that Kyiv is consistently working with its partners to bolster Ukraine’s defensive capabilities, as well as ensure the timely delivery of arms and the implementation of agreements reached, particularly concerning air defense systems.

Russian authorities have not yet commented on the claims or the attack.