A barrage of Russian missile strikes hit areas of Ukraine in the afternoon and evening on Wednesday, killing at least six people and cutting power to the capital, Kyiv, and other regions, as well as to parts of neighbouring Moldova, in what appeared to be one of the most disruptive waves of attacks in weeks. The strikes sent plumes of smoke into the skies in Kyiv as Ukrainian air defence systems worked to shoot down incoming missiles.

“We have confirmation of hits on critical infrastructure facilities in several regions,” the deputy head of the Ukrainian President’s office, Kyrylo Tymoshenko, said in a statement.

The Ukrainian Air Force said the strikes were carried out by missile-carrying aircraft from the Volgodonsk area of the Rostov region and from the Caspian Sea, as well as from two small missile boats from the Black Sea.

In total, Russia launched around 70 cruise missiles, of which Ukrainian air defences shot down 51, the air force said. Additionally, in southern Ukraine, five unmanned attack drones were also shot down, the air force said.

From Lviv in the west to Kharkiv in the northeast, officials reported interruptions to supplies of electricity, water and other key services. Moldova was also experiencing “massive power outages across the country”, its infrastructure minister, Andrei Spinu, wrote on Facebook.

Moldova’s Soviet-era electricity systems remain interconnected with those in Ukraine, its western neighbour. Russia escalated its aerial attacks on Ukraine’s energy system in October after a series of battlefield losses, trying to plunge the country into darkness and cold. The strikes, while crippling, have not halted Ukraine’s military advances.

Baby killed

A newborn baby was killed in a Russian missile attack that hit a maternity hospital in the city of Vilniansk in southeastern Ukraine on Wednesday, Ukrainian officials said.

New York Times News Service