KYIV -- Russia launched one of its largest aerial attacks on Ukraine, Kyiv’s foreign minister said on November 17, with drones and missiles targeting energy infrastructure and other civilian sites in cities across the country, prompting neighboring Poland to scramble fighter jets.
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“Russia launched one of the largest air attacks: drones and missiles against peaceful cities, sleeping civilians, critical infrastructure. This is war criminal [President Vladimir] Putin’s true response to all those who called and visited him recently. We need peace through strength, not appeasement,” Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiha wrote on X.
Later, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Russia had launched around 120 missiles and 90 drones in what he described as a "massive" combined air strike on Ukraine's energy infrastructure.
"The enemy's target was our energy infrastructure throughout Ukraine. Unfortunately, there is damage to objects from strikes and falling debris," he said in a statement on social media.
Explosions were reported early on November 17 in the capital, Kyiv, as well as other cities across the country, including Odesa on the Black Sea coast and the southeastern city of Zaporizhzhya. Russia's missile attack targeted power infrastructure across Ukraine, forcing the launch of preventive outages, Ukrainian Energy Minister Herman Halushchenko said.
The massive attack comes as Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine grinds towards its 1,000th day. Russia is expending huge amounts of weaponry and human life to make small but steady territorial gains to the nearly one-fifth of Ukraine it already controls.
Ukraine, meanwhile, is struggling to minimize losses, maintain morale, and convince allies that, with more military aid, it can turn the tide. U.S. President-elect Donald Trump has said he could quickly end the war, though it is unclear how.
On November 16, the Group of Seven (G7) leading industrialized countries reiterated its members' "unwavering support for Ukraine for as long as it takes" in its struggle against invading Russian forces.
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Russia's attack on Ukraine on November 17 prompted neighboring Poland to scramble jets.
"Due to the massive attack by the Russian Federation using cruise missiles, ballistic missiles, and unmanned aerial vehicles on objects located, among others, in western Ukraine, Polish and allied aircraft have started operating in our airspace," the operational command of NATO member Poland's armed forces posted on X.
It said it had "activated all available forces and resources at his disposal, the on-duty fighter pairs were scrambled, and the ground-based air defense and radar reconnaissance systems reached the highest state of readiness.”
In his social media post, Zelenskiy said Russia deployed various types of drones, including Shaheds, as well as cruise, ballistic, and aircraft-launched ballistic missiles. Ukrainian defense forces shot down 140 air targets, he said.
The missile attack followed an overnight drone strike on Ukraine's capital. The roof of a residential building caught fire in Kyiv due to falling debris and at least one person was injured, city officials said on the Telegram messaging app.
"Emergency services were dispatched to the scene," Kyiv's Mayor Vitali Klitschko said.
The combined drone and missile attack was the most powerful in three months, according to the head of Kyiv’s military administration, Serhiy Popko.
Ukraine's Air Force issued air raid alerts across all regions of the country around 6 a.m. local time, warning of the attack.
Halushchenko said on Telegram that "a massive attack on our energy system is ongoing" and that Russian forces were "attacking electricity generation and transmission facilities throughout Ukraine."
Russia's aerial attack "seriously damaged" equipment at thermal power stations belonging to the country's largest private energy provider.
In a statement on social media, DTEK said its employees were working on repairing the equipment but did not specify what exactly had been hit.