Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy said an overnight Russian attack killed nine people, wounded dozens more and damaged energy and transport infrastructure.
Russia used more than 470 drones and 48 missiles in the attack, Mr Zelenskiy said.
“Every brazen attack against ordinary life shows that the pressure on Russia is insufficient. Effective sanctions and assistance to Ukraine can change this,” he said, calling for air defence missiles aid from allies.
It comes as explosions rocked the western Ukrainian cities of Lviv and Ternopil on Wednesday, Ukrainian media and a Reuters witness reported, after Ukraine’s military reported Russian missile and drone attacks.
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“Russia is once again attacking our energy infrastructure,” Ukraine’s energy ministry said on the Telegram messaging app.
“Emergency power outages have been introduced in a number of regions of Ukraine.”
Ukrainian state media reported that a multi-storey residential building had been hit in Ternopil, while a Reuters witness reported power disruptions in Lviv during the attack.
Regional governor Maksym Kozytskyi said on Telegram that the attack damaged an energy facility and hit an industrial site in Lviv region but caused no casualties, without providing further details.
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Images shared on Ukrainian news-monitoring Telegram channels showed a tower block in Ternopil with its upper floors torn away beneath a towering column of black smoke, an orange glow of fire still burning through the haze.
Poland, a Nato member bordering western Ukraine, has temporarily closed Rzeszow and Lublin airports in the southeast of the country and scrambled Polish and allied aircraft as a precaution to safeguard its airspace.- Reuters
