The President also said that earlier in the day, Ukrainian forces managed to shoot down six Russian cruise missiles and five drones….reports Asian Lite News
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that some 10 million people across the war-torn country have been left without electricity following a fresh wave of Russian missile strikes.
In his night video address to the nation on Thursday, the President said: “Currently, more than 10 million Ukrainians are without electricity. Most of them are in the Vinnytsia, Odesa, Sumy and Kiev regions. We are doing everything to normalise the supply.”
Zelensky went on to say that dozens of people were injured as a result of a missile attack on Thursday in Dnipro, adding that “everyone is being provided with aid”.
“In Zaporizhzhia, the clearance of the rubble of a residential building, which was destroyed by Russian shelling at night, continues… The list of the dead includes seven people. Unfortunately, this number may increase,” he said.
The President also said that earlier in the day, Ukrainian forces managed to shoot down six Russian cruise missiles and five drones.
In yet another appeal to allies and partners, Zelensky said that “only full protection of the Ukrainian sky will protect both Ukraine and Europe from many possible escalations of Russian aggression and will definitely encourage Russia to truly end the war”.
Meanwhile, state-owned energy firm Naftogaz said its gas-producing facilities in the east of Ukraine had been subjected to a “massive attack”, without giving additional details.
Ukraine was subjected to another wide-ranging assault on Tuesday when dozens of long-range missiles pounded the country in what was believed to be the most intense barrage since the start of the war on February 24, reports the BBC.
Many of the missiles fired by Russia on Tuesday were intercepted, but those that struck infrastructure targets managed to further deplete Ukraine’s power reserves.
Ukrainian experts to participate in probe into missile strike in Poland
Zelensky said that experts from his country will participate in a probe into an incident involving a missile that hit Poland earlier this week resulting in the deaths of two civilians.
“Yesterday (Wednesday), we received confirmation that our specialists will participate in the investigation. Until the investigation is completed, we cannot say for sure which missiles or their parts fell on Polish territory,” Xinhua news agency quoted the President as saying on Thursday.
On Tuesday, about 100 missiles were fired by Russia against Ukraine, Zelensky said, voicing his belief that some of those missiles could have crossed the Ukrainian-Polish border.
“We have seen pictures of funnel diameter. It could not be only the remnants of anti-missile systems,” he said.
On Wednesday, Oleksiy Danilov, the secretary of Ukraine’s National Security and Defence Council (NSDC), said that Kiev requested access to the site of the explosions in Poland for representatives of the Defence Ministry and the State Service for Emergencies.
Zelensky’s announcement comes as investigations continue into the blast on Tuesday night on a farm in Przewodow, 6 km from Poland’s border with Ukraine.
Earlier on Tuesday, Ukrainian air defence systems were activated after Russia launched what is believed to be its biggest wave of missile strikes in the nine months since the invasion on February 24.
In response to the incident, Polish President Andrzej Duda said that it was an accident, adding that Warsaw did not consider the incident an attack on the country since the fallen missile was probably fired by Ukrainian Air Defence Forces.
On Wednesday, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said that the missile was probably Ukrainian.
