Ukraine accuses Russia of launching more than 200 missiles and UAVs; Poland mobilizes forces

Ukrainian officials accused Russia on November 17 of carrying out the largest missile and UAV attack since August.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky accused Russia of launching about 120 missiles and 90 unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in a "massive" combined air strike on Ukraine's energy infrastructure this morning, November 17, according to Reuters.

A rocket explosion is seen over the Ukrainian city of Kyiv during a missile attack on November 17.

"Russia has launched one of the largest air strikes: drones and missiles targeting peaceful cities, sleeping civilians, critical infrastructure," Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said.

The last time Russia launched a major missile attack on Ukraine was on August 26, when Ukrainian officials accused Russia of launching more than 200 missiles and drones in an attack that killed seven people, according to Reuters.

The extent of the damage caused by today’s attack was not immediately clear. Ukrainian authorities have cut off power to many areas, including the capital Kyiv and its surrounding areas and the Dnipropetrovsk region. Authorities in the Volyn region in northwestern Ukraine reported damage to energy infrastructure but did not elaborate.

In the southern province of Mykolaiv, two people were killed in a drone attack overnight, local officials told Reuters. Explosions also rocked the southern Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia and the port of Odessa, witnesses told Reuters. More explosions were reported in the southern province of Kryvyi Rih and the western province of Rivne.

Poland, a NATO member state, said today it has deployed air forces in its airspace as a security precaution due to Russia's renewed attack on Ukraine.

Russian news agencies today quoted the Russian Defense Ministry as saying that Russian forces had launched a major attack on energy facilities supplying Ukraine's military-industrial complex, according to Reuters. Russia has long denied attacking civilian targets in Ukraine.

Meanwhile, Alexander Brechalov, head of Russia’s Udmurtia Republic, wrote on the Telegram messaging app today that a drone crashed into a factory in the region, causing an explosion and injuring one person, according to Reuters. There was no information on which side the drone belonged to.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/ukraine-to-nga-phong-hon-200-ten-lua-va-uav-ba-lan-dieu-dong-luc-luong-185241117162924443.htm