Ukraine alleges massive Russian missile and drone strike, Poland issues air alert

Kyiv, Aug 26: Ukrainian agencies and media on Monday alleged that the Russian forces have launched a major missile and drone assault in several regions of the country, including the capital, Kyiv, killing three and wounding many people.

"The Russian occupiers started the week with a massive missile attack on Ukrainian cities. The free world must unite to put an end to Russian terror," the Ukrainian Defence Ministry posted on X while confirming the assault.

At least three people were killed in the attacks, local media reported.

The Kyiv Independent reported that air raid sirens blared across the country just before 6 am Monday, with the alert still active at several locations.

The DTEK Group, which has heavily invested in energy assets in Ukraine, stated that state-owned electricity transmission system operator Ukrenergo has issued an order to introduce emergency blackouts throughout the country.

"Please note that during emergency shutdowns, schedules that can be predicted in advance do not work," it posted in a message on Telegram.

Ukrainian media revealed that explosions have been reported from Odesa, Vinnytsia, Zaporizhzhia, Kremenchuk, Dnipro, Khmelnytskyi, Kropyvnytskyi, Kryvyi Rih, Lviv, Rivne, and Ivano-Frankivsk oblasts.

"The desire to destroy our energy will cost the Russians dearly, their infrastructure. Permission to strike with Western weapons deep into the territory of the Russian Federation. This is necessary. We do it ourselves. But such a decision will speed up the end of Russian terror," said the Head of the Ukrainian Presidential Office Andriy Yermak in a post on his social media channel.

Meanwhile, the Operational Command of the Armed Forces Branches in Poland, also issued an alert for citizens in the south-eastern part of the country, alerting them that there may be an "increased noise level" due to the start of operations of Polish and allied aircraft in its airspace.

"Since the early morning hours, intensive activity of long-range aviation of the Russian Federation has been observed, associated with strikes carried out on objects located, among others, in the western territory of Ukraine. The last such increased activity of Russian aviation, during which strikes occurred in western Ukraine, was recorded on July 8 this year. All necessary procedures to ensure the safety of Polish airspace have been launched, and the Operational Command of the Polish Armed Forces is constantly monitoring the situation," it said in a statement.

The Kyiv Post quoted the governor of the central Dnipropetrovsk region, Sergiy Lysak, as saying that the Russian forces have attacked "en masse".

"The attack on August 26 was one of the most extensive air assaults on Ukraine, targeting multiple regions and causing significant damage to infrastructure and energy facilities," the leading daily reported.