A “massive” Russian missile and drone attack has targeted power infrastructure across Ukraine, the country’s energy minister German Galushchenko has said.
It is the largest such assault since early September, with reports of several explosions across Ukraine, according to authorities and local media.
Poland, Ukraine’s neighbour to the west, scrambled fighter jets to patrol its own airspace as a security precaution, Poland’s Operational Command said.
In a statement on social media, Mr Galushchenko said that “a massive attack on our energy system is ongoing” and that Russian forces were “attacking electricity generation and transmission facilities”.
In Ukraine’s south, the city of Mykolaiv was among the worst hit, with at least two people killed and several injured, while the Black Sea port of Odesa experienced a city-wide power cut.
In the capital, Kyiv, fragments from intercepted missiles and drones fell in several places, but there were no reports of injuries.
In a statement, Poland confirmed that operations by Polish and allied aircraft were underway.
“Due to a massive attack by Russia, which is carrying out strikes using cruise missiles, ballistic missiles and drones against sites located, among other places, in western Ukraine, operations by Polish and allied aircraft have begun,” it said.