The Ukrainian air force said Russia had launched 88 missiles and 63 Iranian-made Shahed drones. But 37 and 55 respectively were shot down, but others hit the country's largest dam and caused blackouts in several regions, and killed at least five people.
The strikes came as the Kremlin stepped up its rhetoric over the conflict, saying that Russia was "in a state of war" in Ukraine and casting aside its usual depiction of the invasion as a "special military operation".
Russia's defence ministry said it launched the "massive" airstrikes as revenge for Ukrainian attacks on its border regions over recent weeks.
Several major power facilities were hit in the south-eastern Dnipropetrovsk region, including the country's largest dam and the Dnipro hydroelectric power plant, one of Europe's biggest.
Ukrainian authorities said there was no risk of a breach but a generating unit was in critical condition after dramatic images posted online showed a fire at the dam. "The enemy is carrying out the largest-scale attack on the Ukrainian energy industry in recent times," said the energy minister, German Galushchenko.
This story is from the March 23, 2024 edition of The Guardian.
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This story is from the March 23, 2024 edition of The Guardian.
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