Russian missiles kill 2, wound 7 in Ukraine

Kyiv yesterday said that Russia had launched more than a dozen cruise missiles at Ukraine overnight in Moscow's latest aerial barrage that left two dead and several wounded.

"Nineteen cruise missiles X101/X555 were launched. And we have not a bad result from our air defenses -- 14 destroyed cruise missiles," Yuriy Ignat, a spokesperson for Ukraine's air force, told state media.

He said the missiles, which were launched at civilian targets, were downed over the Kyiv and Dnipropetrovsk regions.

Prime Minister Denys Shmygal said the attacks had left two people dead and seven people injured in Dnipropetrovsk and the eastern Kharkiv region.

Kyiv city officials said the capital was targeted with cruise missiles for the first time in 79 days. They said the missiles did not hit their targets.

Russian strikes on Ukraine's energy infrastructure last winter left millions in the cold and dark for extended periods.

Officials in Kyiv said Russian forces were stockpiling drones and missiles for similar attacks.

Ukrainian energy consumption hovered near record highs yesterday, increasing strains on the fragile power sector as nearly 500 settlements faced blackouts due to Russian shelling, air strikes and bad weather, officials said.

Ukraine, an exporter of electricity before Russia's February 2022 invasion, has been forced to turn to emergency power imports from neighbouring Romania and Poland this week to meet demand, grid operator Ukrenergo said.

"The power system remains in a difficult situation. At the moment, there is no free capacity at power plants."

The energy system is entering a second winter at war in a much shakier condition after months of Russian missile and drone attacks pounded critical infrastructure last winter.

Those strikes plunged cities into darkness and forced people to go for long periods without water or heating in the bitter cold. Though the power system is now weakened, Ukrainians hope better air defences provided by the West will help them prevail.

Ukrenergo urged residents to economise on the use of electricity in the face of continued Russian attacks almost two years into Moscow's full-scale invasion in which it has occupied swathes of the east and south, about a fifth of the country.

"This morning Ukrenergo again recorded a high level of consumption, which is almost equal to yesterday's record," the grid operator said in a statement, adding that consumption was at its highest levels so far this heating season.

Consumption had risen 4 percent on Thursday compared with the day before, it said.

The Kyiv government said in a statement that 492 settlements across Ukraine were without electricity due to bad weather, shelling, strikes and combat actions.