RUSSIAN forces have bombarded power facilities across Ukraine as officials said a new Russian offensive was under way in the east.
Ukraine’s air force said 61 of 71 Russian missiles had been shot down on Friday. But energy minister German Galushchenko said Russia had hit power facilities in six regions with missiles and drones, causing blackouts across most of Ukraine.
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Russia has repeatedly attacked civilian infrastructure far from the front lines, leaving millions of Ukrainians without power, heat or water for days at a time in the middle of winter.
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The barrages have often followed Ukrainian diplomatic or battlefield advances.
Friday’s attack came as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy ended a tour of European allies, where he was enthusiastically received but secured no public promises of the fighter jets he was asking for.
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“London, Paris, Brussels – everywhere I spoke these past few days about how to strengthen our soldiers. There are very important understandings and we received good signals,” Zelenskyy said in his nightly video address.
“This concerns long-range missiles and tanks and the next level of our cooperation – fighter aircraft.”
