Ukrainian authorities said Russia attacked the power grid and other infrastructure using kamikaze drones in an early morning attack on Kyiv and its surrounding districts.
Initial reports said there were no deaths and only two people were wounded in the December 19 attack, which the military administration for the Kyiv region said included more than 20 Iranian-designed drones.
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Ukrainian military officials, meanwhile, said 35 Shahed drones were used in the attack, and 30 of them were shot down by air defenses.
"It was one of the most massive drone attacks on our country since the beginning of the war," the Defense Ministry said.
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko, meanwhile, said that preliminary information suggested there were no deaths or injuries.
Oleskiy Kuleba, the governor of the wider Kyiv region surrounding the capital, said that infrastructure and private houses were damaged by the attacks and that two people were wounded.
"The terrorist country continues its war against the civilian population," Kuleba said in a post to Telegram. "We will overcome everything."
Power grid operator Ukrenerho said the situation with the grid nationwide was "difficult" and the Dnipropetrovsk region and eastern and central regions were the worst affected.
SEE ALSO: In Satellite Images Of Russian-Occupied Crimea, Experts Point To Potential Targets For UkraineNearly 10 months into its invasion of Ukraine, Russia has been using cruise missiles and Iranian-built drones to hammer Ukraine’s energy infrastructure nationwide as part of an apparent strategy to try to freeze Ukrainians and demoralize the population.
Last week, Russia launched a barrage of missiles and drones against Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities, triggering widespread power outages.
Ukrainian officials have raced to repair damaged infrastructure and called for donations from the West, both for generators and power-grid equipment, but also for more advanced air-defense systems.
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy repeated that plea in a call to Western leaders meeting in Latvia, including British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.
"I ask you to increase the possibility of supplying air-defense systems to our country and to help speed up the relevant decisions to be taken by our partners," Zelenskiy said during the video call.
WATCH: Despite being outgunned, Ukrainian troops are pushing back against enemy attacks in Ukraine's Donetsk region.
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Ukrainian Troops Block Russian Probing Forces Southwest Of Donetsk City
Ukrainian officials have raced to repair damaged infrastructure and called for donations from the West, both of generators and power-grid equipment but also more advanced air-defense systems.
Russia’s invasion has faltered overall, with troops having been forced to make three major retreats in the nearly 10 months since the February 24 invasion. The fiercest fighting is currently in the eastern Donbas region, near the city of Bakhmut.
Russian troops continued their assault on the Bakhmut and Avdiyivka directions, shelling 25 settlements, the General Staff of the armed forces said on Facebook.
"The enemy continues to conduct assaults fired from tanks, mortars, and rocket artillery at our positions in the areas of 25 settlements," the General Staff's statement said, listing Bakhmut and Avdiyivka among them. Shelling also continued in several settlements in the Zaporizhzhya region and in the city of Kherson.
A man was killed when a shell hit his car, said Kherson City Council spokesman Dmytro Pelenchuk. Shelling also damaged the building of the regional state administration and one of Kherson's gymnasiums.
Russian President Vladimir Putin met in Minsk with Belarusian strongman Alyaksandr Lukashenka on December 19 amid speculation that Moscow could try to push Belarusian forces into attacking Ukraine from the north. The two countries will continue holding joint military exercises and will maintain military cooperation in other areas, Putin and Lukashenka said afterward.
Moscow also announced on December 19 that Russian and Chinese forces would hold six days of joint naval drills beginning on December 21 in the East China Sea.
While the countries have held annual drills since 2012, Russia has sought to tighten political, security, and economic links with Beijing in recent months as a way to counterbalance Western sanctions imposed as a result of the Ukraine invasion.