The Ukrainian military claimed that it had downed 35 out of the 53 missiles launched at targets across the country overnight on 1 June as well as 46 out of 47 attacking drones.
Injuries were reported by officials across the country, including in Ukraine’s western Lviv region and the central Dnipropetrovsk region, Euro News reported.
Twelve people, including eight children, were hospitalized after a strike close to two houses where they were sheltering in the Kharkiv region, said Governor Oleh Syniehubov.
The strikes were part of a series of sustained attacks by Russia against Ukraine’s power grid, which has been ongoing since March.
Ukraine’s largest private energy firm, DTEK said that two of its power plants had been seriously damaged in what it said was the sixth attack on the company’s plants in two and a half months.
Meanwhile, Ukraine’s Energy Minister, Herman Halushchenko, said in a statement on social media that energy infrastructure in the Zaporizhzhia, Dnipropetrovsk, Donetsk, Kirovohrad and Ivano-Frankivsk regions had also been targeted.
Damage to Ukraine’s energy infrastructure in recent weeks has forced leaders of the country to institute nationwide rolling blackouts. Without adequate air defences to counter assaults and allow for repairs, the shortages could still worsen as need spikes in late summer and the bitter-cold winter.
SD/PR