Pavel Polyyuk
KYIV, Jan 13 (Reuters) – Russian forces launched their most violent missile attack on Ukraine this year early on Tuesday, killing four people, injuring many others and causing an emergency power outage after damaging infrastructure in Kiev.
Ukraine’s power grid operator Ukrenergo said emergency power outages had been implemented in Kiev after Kyiv’s military administration chief Tymur Tkachenko said earlier that the capital had suffered a brief but intense missile attack.
Ukrainian private energy company DTEK said a Russian attack severely damaged equipment at one of its thermal power plants.
Since launching its invasion in February 2022, Russia has repeatedly targeted Ukraine’s power system with missiles and drones, aiming to disrupt winter electricity and heating supplies as Ukraine’s air defenses struggle to intercept waves of attacks.
Ukrainian Telegram monitoring channel said about 20 ballistic missiles were fired in about an hour during the night in what they called the most sustained attack so far this year. Reuters could not independently verify the reports.
Ukraine’s armed forces did not immediately comment on the full scale of the attack. Russia has not commented on the attack.
In the city of Kharkiv, 30 kilometers (18 miles) from the Russian border and a frequent target of Moscow’s attacks, local governor Oleh Syniehubov said an attack on the outskirts of the city killed four people.
Six people were injured, Sinehubov said.
Ukraine’s state emergency service said the attack in Kharkiv hit a postal terminal, destroying the building and sparking multiple fires covering an area of about 500 square meters. Rescue workers brought 30 people to safety, including two from the rubble.
Five people were wounded in a Russian nighttime attack in the southern port city of Odessa, the Defense Ministry said. Fires were reported in a new, unused building, a fitness center and a vocational school.
A Russian attack on the industrial city of Krivoy Rog in central Ukraine damaged civilian infrastructure, homes and gas pipelines and injured two people, the region’s governor said.
(Reporting by Pavel Polityuk, Valentyn Ogirenko, Lidia Kelly, Ron Popeski and Alexandr Vasovic; Editing by David Gregorio and Lincoln Feast.)
