Russia launched a major overnight attack on Ukraine, firing missiles and drones at cities across the country. The strikes continued into Thursday morning, with explosions heard in Kyiv.
Ukraine is facing a shortage of US-made Patriot air defense missiles, which are among its main weapons against Russian ballistic missiles. Russia has also introduced fast, jet-powered drones, adding another challenge for Ukrainian defenses.
Ukrainian officials say Russia has been building up its missile stockpiles and launching large-scale attacks every few days in an apparent attempt to overwhelm Ukraine's air defenses. Ukraine, meanwhile, has carried out long-range drone attacks on targets inside Russia.
Russia says strikes targeted military facilities
The Russian Defense Ministry said its forces carried out a "massive" attack on nine Ukrainian cities from Wednesday night, targeting military-related facilities including industrial plants, oil refineries, logistics centers and port infrastructure.
However, civilian areas were also damaged. A 78-year-old woman was killed in the southern Zaporizhzhia region and another person died in the northern Kharkiv region, Ukrainian officials said. At least 14 others were wounded in different areas.
"Russia continues to invest in missiles and in expanding its war, and that means more countermeasures are needed," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on social media.
He welcomed promises made by European countries earlier this week to provide additional air defense support, but said Ukraine also needs more systems capable of intercepting ballistic missiles through European purchases of US weapons.
The strikes also damaged businesses and other economic infrastructure. Russian drones hit three major distribution centers, destroying warehouses belonging to a toy retailer and a confectionery company and damaging another facility operated by an electronics retailer, the companies said.
Russia also continued attacks on Ukraine's energy infrastructure ahead of the winter.
Four powerful glide bombs destroyed generating equipment at a combined heat and power plant in the southern Kherson region, forcing the facility to shut down, its operator Naftogaz said.
Zelenskyy to visit Moldova
Zelenskyy was scheduled to visit neighboring Moldova on Thursday to attend celebrations marking the country's independence from the Soviet Union in 1991. Ukraine also declared independence that year.
Moldova's Defense Ministry said five drones entered its airspace overnight, though it did not say who launched them.
Russia's invasion of Ukraine has raised concerns among neighboring Eastern European countries about the possibility of the conflict spreading. Drone incursions into their airspace have added to those concerns.
Ukraine's air force said it shot down or disrupted seven Russian ballistic missiles but did not provide details on how they were intercepted.
Four districts of Kyiv were hit during the night, damaging apartment buildings, a school and a medical facility, city police said. No casualties were reported in the capital.
Russian forces also targeted industrial and energy facilities in the central Poltava region, regional military administration chief Vitalii Diakivnych said.
The southern Odesa region faced more than seven hours of Russian attacks, regional governor Oleh Kiper said. A 16-story residential building, two educational facilities and a grain elevator were damaged.
Odesa is a major port for Ukraine's exports of grain and other agricultural products.
The attacks also caused major disruption to rail services, with some trains delayed by more than 17 hours, state railway operator Ukrzaliznytsia said.
Ukraine targets Russian businesses
Ukraine has also been carrying out near-daily long-range drone attacks against targets inside Russia.
Ukraine's General Staff said air-launched missiles struck Russia's main and backup command posts near the eastern city of Donetsk, where Ukrainian troops are facing pressure from a Russian offensive.
The Russian Defense Ministry said its air defenses shot down 267 Ukrainian drones over 14 Russian regions, the illegally annexed Crimean Peninsula, the Sea of Azov and the Black Sea.
Ukrainian drones have recently targeted major Russian online retailers. After attacks destroyed large warehouses belonging to Wildberries, Russia's biggest online retailer, drones have now targeted Ozon, the country's second-largest e-commerce company.
Ozon initially said logistics facilities in Orenburg and Ufa were attacked, although neither caught fire. The company later revised its statement, saying only the Ufa facility was attacked while the Orenburg site was evacuated following an alert and later resumed normal operations.