Russia launches major attack as Kremlin says it’s at war with Ukraine

Russia launched a massive attack on Ukrainian cities Friday morning, marking one of the largest strikes on the country’s energy infrastructure, as the Kremlin for the first time in its two-year assault on Ukraine said that it was at war.

As Russia intensified its attacks, the Kremlin said Russia is in a “state of war,” a significant departure from previously describing its full-scale invasion of Ukraine as “a special military operation.”

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told journalists in Moscow that it started as a special military operation but as soon as the West began participating in the conflict on the side of Ukraine, it became a war.

He also suggested that more men could be called up to fight, saying people need to understand that Russia is at war.

Friday’s attack targeted energy sites, including the Dnipro hydroelectric power plant in central Ukraine, the country’s largest, leaving more than a million without power. Several residential buildings across the country were also damaged or destroyed. Reuters reported at least five people killed and more than 30 people injured.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russia fired more than 60 Iranian-made Shahed drones and nearly 90 rockets of different types at Ukraine Friday morning while criticizing Western allies for delaying the delivery of crucial aid needed for the country’s defence. He said on social media that there are no delays in Russian missiles striking Ukraine.

" ‘Shahed’ drones do not have indecision, like some politicians. It is important to understand the cost of delays and delayed decisions,” he said, adding that air defence is needed to protect people, infrastructure, houses and dams.

Later in his nightly address to Ukraine’s people, he said: “Russian air strikes this morning were heinous, with the deliberate goal of causing structural damage to society’s life rather than military damage to our ability to defend ourselves. This is terror, by definition, without any disguises.”

Air Force Commander Mykola Oleschuk said on messaging-service Telegram that Ukraine’s air defence destroyed 37 rockets and 55 Shahed drones. He said in addition to Russia striking with drones, it used “Iskander-M” ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, Kinzhal hypersonic missiles, guided air missiles and anti-aircraft guided missiles.

Friday morning’s onslaught of drones and missiles is the second large attack this week. Early Thursday, Russia unleashed its largest missile attack in weeks on Kyiv and the surrounding region, injuring at least 17 people.

Energy Minister Herman Halushchenko called Friday’s strikes the largest attack on Ukrainian energy in recent times.

“The goal is not just to damage, but to try again, like last year, to cause a large-scale failure of the country’s energy system,” he said.

Mr. Halushchenko wrote on Facebook that there has been damage to power-generation facilities, transmission and distribution systems, and that one of the power-transmission lines feeding the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant was cut off.

Ukrhydroenergo, Ukraine’s main hydropower generating company, said the Dnipro hydroelectric power plant in Zaporizhzhia was hit by missiles. It said in a statement posted on Facebook that Russian “terrorists” did not calm down after destroying the Kakhovka dam last year and are now trying to create a new environmental disaster by “cynically attacking the Dnipro HPP’s hydraulic structures and dam.”

While the power plant suspended operation, Ihor Syrota, the head of Ukrhydroenergo, said its generation capacity was reduced by one-third in a “significant loss for the Ukrainian energy system.”

There was a fire at the plant, the company said, and emergency services and power engineers were working on the site. There was no threat of a breakthrough, the statement added; the situation at the plant’s dam is under control.

Oleh Syniehubov, the head of Kharkiv Regional Military Administration, said more than 15 Russian strikes targeted energy facilities there and the city is almost completely without power.

Anatolii Kurtiev, acting head of Zaporizhzhia city council, said on Facebook that more than 150 buildings, including private homes and multistorey buildings, were damaged. Two houses were completely destroyed. The survey of the damage is continuing.

Russia’s Defence Ministry said the attacks against Ukraine were “strikes of retribution.” Russia’s Belgorod region along the northeast border has increasingly come under attack, with drones targeting Russian oil refineries and energy facilities.

With reports from Kateryna Hatsenko and the Associated Press