KYIV (Reuters) -Russia hit energy infrastructure in northern Ukraine in an overnight missile and drone attack and caused a huge fire in the west of the country, resulting in an increase in chlorine levels in the air, Ukrainian officials said on Tuesday.
Ukrainian forces shot down three ballistic missiles and 25 of the 26 drones launched in the attack on nine regions across the country, Ukraine’s air force commander said.
Regional officials in the northeastern Sumy region bordering Russia said an energy facility was hit, causing blackouts for 72 settlements and more than 18,500 consumers.
Energy workers rushed to repair the damage, the regional administration said on the Telegram messaging app.
Ukrainian energy facilities have come under nearly daily bombardment over the past six months as the war grinds on following Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022.
Ukraine buys electricity from its neighbours in the European Union but not enough to make up the deficit. Power cuts are regularly announced during peak evening consumption hours.
An industrial facility was attacked in the western region of Ternopil during the latest bombardments, and a fuel reservoir was hit, officials said.
Ukrainian television showed huge columns of black smoke rising over Ternopil.
The burning fuel and lubricant materials had raised chlorine levels in the air, a deputy head of the Ternopil regional administration, Viktor Ustenko, said. Authorities urged people to stay indoors.
More than 90 firefighters were involved in efforts to extinguish the fire, Ustenko added. “The situation is fully under control,” he said.
An attack on Kyiv was repelled without major damage or casualties, city officials said.
There was no immediate comment from Moscow about Tuesday’s attacks. Both sides say they target facilities key to the military and not civilian infrastructure, but many civilians have been killed in the war.
Moscow has continued airstrikes since Ukrainian forces began an incursion into Russia’s Kursk region on Aug. 6, and Russian forces have been gradually advancing in parts of eastern Ukraine.
(Reporting Lidia Kelly in Melbourne and Olena Harmash in Kyiv, additional reporting Yuliia Dysa in Gdansk; Editing by Timothy Heritage and Alex Richardson)