President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has called on Ukraine’s global allies to take “decisive action” after Russia launched a massive drone and missile attack on kyiv and other cities across the country, damaging vital public services.
Live Briefing: Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine
RFE/RL Live Briefing brings you all the latest developments on Russia’s full-scale invasion, kyiv’s counteroffensive, Western military aid, global reaction and the plight of civilians. For all of RFE/RL’s coverage of the war in Ukraine, Click here.
Russian strikes targeted several Ukrainian cities early on August 26, killing at least seven people and wounding 47 others, Ukrainian officials said.
Firefighters extinguished 22 fires thanks to the intervention of 740 rescuers and 176 pieces of equipment. have been deployed across the country to respond to the consequences of the shelling, the Ukrainian emergency service said on Telegram.
On August 26, another strike hit the city of Kryviy Rih in the Dnipropetrovsk region. A missile hit a hotel where many civilians were staying, according to Ukrainian media. Local politician Oleksandr Vilkul was quoted as if “the news is bad”.
Zelenskiy, in a video message Posting on X, he said the “vile” attacks, involving more than 100 missiles and about 100 drones, showed that Western restrictions preventing Ukraine from using long-range weapons to strike deep into Russian territory must be lifted.
“Ukraine cannot be limited in its capabilities in the long term while terrorists do not face such limitations,” Zelenskiy said.
“Weakness and inadequate responses fuel terrorism. (…) Every leader, every one of our partners, knows what decisive measures are needed to end this war in a just manner,” he added, while calling Russian President Vladimir Putin a “sick creature.”
The United States also expressed outrage at Russia’s major assault.
“We condemn in the strongest terms Russia’s continued war against Ukraine and its efforts to plunge the Ukrainian people into darkness as the fall approaches,” White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters, calling the attack “outrageous.”
NATO also strongly condemned the attacks on Ukrainian civilians and civilian infrastructure, noting that Poland said an “object”, most likely a drone, entered its airspace and possibly landed on Polish territory.
“Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, fragments of Russian drones and missiles have been found on Allied territory on several occasions,” NATO spokeswoman Farah Dakhlallah said. “While we have no information indicating an intentional Russian attack on Allies, these actions are irresponsible and potentially dangerous.”
The airstrike is the largest in weeks from Moscow and comes as Ukrainian forces advance in a major offensive in Russia’s Kursk region.
Kiev Mayor Vitali Klitschko said water and electricity supplies in parts of the capital were disrupted when Russia launched its large-scale attack during the morning rush hour.
Zelenskiy said there was “a lot of damage in the energy sector,” and Ukraine’s state energy authority Ukrenerho said it was implementing emergency power cuts.
One person was reportedly killed and a residential building damaged in the northwestern city of Lutsk, according to the city’s mayor, Ihor Polischuk.
Among the seven people killed were two people killed in the Zaporizhzhya and Dnipropetrovsk regions, according to local authorities.
In the Poltava region, five people were injured after a factory was destroyed. Three explosions were reported in the Vinnytsia region.
VIDEO: One person was killed when a missile struck a cottage area on the outskirts of the eastern Ukrainian city of Dnipro early on August 26. It was a day when Ukraine woke up to a barrage of Russian airstrikes.
The Ukrainian Air Force command warned citizens not to ignore air raid warnings after detecting the takeoff of 11 Russian Tu-95MS bombers.
The Air Force command added that it had detected drone movements in Chernihiv, Sumy, Cherkassy, Mykolaiv, Kharkiv and kyiv.
Ukrainian Air Force Commander Mykola Oleschuk said Ukraine had shot down 201 “air targets” – 102 missiles and 99 attack drones. This included 236 missiles and drones fired. The assault included three Kinzhal missiles, six Iskander missiles and 28 Kalibr cruise missiles launched from Russian ships in the Black Sea, Oleschuk said. said.
Meanwhile, the Russian Defense Ministry claimed that 20 Ukrainian drones had been destroyed during the night.
The governor of Russia’s Saratov region, Roman Busargin, said drones targeted the cities of Saratov and Engels and damaged two residential buildings.
He said the damage was caused by falling debris after air defences shot down the drones.
According to Russian news agencies, four women were injured in Saratov and one of them was hospitalized. No casualties were reported in Engels.
Engels and Saratov are located on opposite banks of the Volga River, with a military base of strategic bombers located about 12 kilometers from where the drones were intercepted. Saratov is about 900 km from the Ukrainian border.
Citing the airport’s press service, news agencies reported that flights were restricted at the Saratov regional airport.
RFE/RL was unable to independently verify this information.
Ukraine and Russia insist that they are not targeting civilians in their attacks, but infrastructure critical to the war effort.
With reporting from Reuters
