Ukraine is preparing a military response after Russia pounded the country with a massive barrage of missiles, cruise missiles and drones in what officials said was one of the heaviest air attacks in two and a half years of war.
Fifteen of Ukraine’s 24 regions were hit in the assault which was directed against Ukraine’s energy sector, Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said on Telegram on Monday.
Authorities put the death toll at seven, with 47 people said to have been injured across the country.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he had discussed Ukraine’s response to the attack with Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi.
“We are preparing it, the use of F-16s, and the ongoing operation in the Kursk region. We continue our actions in the designated areas as needed for Ukraine,” Zelensky said in his nightly address.
More than 120 missiles and more than 100 drones had been launched at Ukraine.
He called for the lifting of restrictions on the use of long-range weapons supplied by Western partners, which currently prevent Ukraine from striking deep into Russian territory.
“Each of these strikes repeatedly brings us back to the task of long-range capabilities – the need to provide our Defense Forces with enough long-range weapons that can destroy terrorists exactly in the areas of their strikes,” he said.
“This is the optimal counter-terrorism tactic, one that every partner of ours has the right to and would undoubtedly use to protect themselves.”
Ukraine’s presence in the Kursk region and “our active efforts to eliminate the Russian threat on its own territory are also a way to compensate for the deficit of long-range capabilities,” Zelensky added.
Late on Monday, local authorities said a Russian airstrike had hit a hotel in Kryvyi Rih, the hometown of Zelensky.
Serhiy Lysak, governor of the Dnipropetrovsk region, confirmed the attack on Telegram early on Tuesday, stating that the missile hit a civilian structure, killing one person and injuring four others.
Hydroelectric power station hit in Kiev
In the capital region, the hydroelectric power station at Kiev’s reservoir was damaged by a Russian airstrike, Ukrainian media reports said.
The news agency UNIAN in Kiev reported the strike after a video of the damage appeared on Russian Telegram channels.
According to the report, there was a fire in the turbine room of the hydroelectric power station.
Following the airstrike, the military administration of the Kiev region only officially confirmed damage to two unspecified energy infrastructure facilities.
At the same time, Ukrainian authorities tried to allay fears of a possible destruction of the dam. “There is no threat to the dam of the Kiev Hydroelectric Power Station. It is impossible to destroy it with missiles,” Andriy Kovalenko, head of the Centre for Combating Disinformation, wrote on Telegram.
Poland says unidentified object violated airspace
The Polish Armed Forces said an unidentified “aerial object” flew into Polish air space on Monday morning.
General Maciej Klisz, operational commander of the armed forces, said at least three radar stations had registered the presumably unmanned object.
The army was in “full control” of the situation and was ready to shoot the object down if necessary, Poland’s PAP news agency quoted Klisz as saying.
The object had crossed the Polish border near the Ukrainian town of Chervonohrad at 6:43 am (0343 GMT). By Monday afternoon the army said it was still not clear if it had crashed or turned back toward Ukraine.
Reuters confirms death of British employee in Ukraine
A British man working for the news agency Reuters as a safety adviser was killed in a Russian attack on the eastern Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk, the agency has confirmed.
Reuters reported that Ryan Evans, “a member of the Reuters team covering the war in Ukraine,” was killed in an overnight strike on a hotel in Kramatorsk on Sunday.
His body was only recovered from under the rubble after several hours, according to the authorities.
Four people were recovered from under the debris with injuries, Vadym Filashkin, the governor of the eastern Donetsk region, said on Telegram. He had initially reported two dead.
The four injured were German, Ukrainian, Latvian and US nationals working for Reuters, according to Filashkin.
Reuters said that a team of six of its staff had been staying at the hotel when it was hit by the strike.
Two of its journalists were being treated in hospital, with one in serious condition, the agency said. The remaining three team members were safe.
According to the agency, Evans was 38 and a former British soldier who had been working with Reuters since 2022.
According to Ukrainian prosecutors, the hotel was hit by a Iskander-M missile.
Pro-Russian military bloggers confirmed the attack but said heavy-duty FAB-1500 glide bombs had been used in the strike.
IAEA chief to visit Russia’s Kursk nuclear power plant
The head of the UN’s nuclear watchdog said he will lead a team visiting the the Kursk nuclear power plant in western Russia on Tuesday.
The facility is about 30 kilometres away from the fighting that erupted nearly three weeks ago when Ukrainian forces launched a surprise incursion into Russian territory.
“Given the serious situation, I am personally leading the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) mission to the Kursk Nuclear Power Plant (KNPP) in the Russian Federation,” Rafael Grossi said in a statement.
“The safety and security of all nuclear power plants is of central and fundamental concern to the IAEA.”
The nuclear power plant is located on the Seym river near the town of Kurchatov.
Last week, Russia told the IAEA that a drone had been intercepted near the plant. Russian President Vladimir Putin accused Ukraine of an attempted attack on the site, without offering any evidence.
Donetsk region orders further evacuations
The Ukrainian authorities ordered further evacuations in light of the Russian advance in the eastern Donetsk region.
Due to the deteriorating security situation, the zone for forced evacuations has been expanded and children and their parents or guardians must leave their homes, Donetsk Governor Vadym Filashkin announced on Monday evening.
A total of 27 localities in the Kostiantynivka and Selydove area were listed. An evacuation of villages had already been ordered in the Pokrovsk region due to the advance of Russian troops there.
Russian troops have captured a string of villages in the Donetsk region in recent months. One of Moscow’s war aims is to bring Donetsk under complete Russian control.
