KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russia launched a large aerial assault in opposition to Ukraine on Friday, firing 93 cruise and ballistic missiles and virtually 200 drones, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy mentioned, describing it as one of many heaviest bombardments of the nation’s vitality sector since Russia’s full-scale invasion virtually three years in the past.
Ukrainian defenses shot down 81 missiles, together with 11 cruise missiles that had been intercepted by F-16 warplanes supplied by Western allies earlier this yr, Zelenskyy mentioned.
WATCH: Pentagon holds information briefing as U.S. warns Russia might use new missile in opposition to Ukraine
Russia is “terrorizing thousands and thousands of individuals” with such assaults, he mentioned on his Telegram channel, renewing his plea for worldwide unity in opposition to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“A powerful response from the world is required: a large strike – a large response. This is the one technique to cease terror,” Zelenskyy mentioned.
But uncertainty surrounds how the struggle may unfold subsequent yr. President-elect Donald Trump, who takes workplace subsequent month, has vowed to finish the struggle and has thrown into doubt whether or not very important U.S. navy assist for Kyiv will proceed.
In Moscow, the Defense Ministry mentioned the Russian navy used long-range precision missiles and drones on “critically essential gasoline and vitality services in Ukraine that make sure the functioning of the navy industrial complicated.”
The strike was in retaliation for Wednesday’s Ukrainian assault utilizing U.S.-supplied the Army Tactical Missile System, or ATACMs, on a Russian air base, it mentioned.
Trump mentioned in an interview revealed in TIME journal on Thursday that he was in opposition to permitting Ukraine to hit targets on Russian soil utilizing U.S. supplied weapons.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov mentioned Friday that Trump’s stance “conforms to our place.”
“In this case, we’ve got a shared imaginative and prescient of causes of escalation and that’s optimistic. Obviously, Trump realizes what escalates the battle,” Peskov instructed reporters.
The U.S. Embassy in Kyiv mentioned Friday’s assault additionally focused transport networks and different key services.
Ukraine’s largest personal vitality firm, DTEK, mentioned the assault “severely broken” its thermal energy crops.
Russia has repeatedly tried to cripple Ukraine’s electrical energy system in an effort to interrupt the need of civilians left at nighttime with no working water or heating and to disrupt Ukrainian protection manufacturing.
Ukrainian Energy Minister Herman Halushchenko mentioned vitality staff had been doing every part essential to “decrease destructive penalties for the vitality system,” promising to launch extra particulars on damages as soon as the safety state of affairs allowed it.
Ukraine’s air power reported a number of strike drones launched at Ukraine in a single day adopted by swarms of cruise missiles within the nation’s air area. It mentioned Russia additionally used air-launched ballistic Kinzhal missiles in opposition to Ukraine’s western areas.
An analogous huge assault on Nov. 28 concerned about 200 missiles and drones and left greater than one million households with out energy till emergency groups restored provides.
READ MORE: Power to 1 million houses lower in Ukraine after newest ‘huge’ Russian aerial assault
Ukrainian officers have warned that Russia is stockpiling cruise and ballistic missiles for extra assaults.
On Nov. 21, Russia for the primary time used an intermediate vary hypersonic ballistic missile to strike an industrial plant within the metropolis of Dnipro, in japanese Ukraine. Putin described the assault with the Oreshnik missile as retaliation for Ukrainian strikes on Russian territory with longer-range Western weapons.
He declared that extra assaults with the brand new weapon may observe, and U.S. officers warned Wednesday that the Oreshnik may very well be used once more in coming days. There was no speedy signal one was launched in Friday’s assault.
Around half of Ukraine’s vitality infrastructure has been destroyed throughout the struggle, and rolling electrical energy blackouts are frequent and widespread.
Kyiv’s Western allies have supplied Ukraine with air protection methods to assist it shield important infrastructure, however Russia has sought to overwhelm the air defenses with mixed strikes involving giant numbers of missiles and drones known as “swarms.”
Russia has held the initiative this yr as its navy has steadily rammed via Ukrainian defenses within the east in a collection of sluggish however regular offensives.
