Almost half of Kyiv and nearly the entire city of Lviv are without power Thursday after Russia launched another massive missile strike across Ukraine using air and sea-based cruise missiles.
Ukraine’s air force shot down 54 of the 69 missiles fired at western cities like Lviv, Kyiv and Odesa in its latest large scale missile strike that targeted civilian and energy infrastructure.
"The enemy keeps resorting to its missile terror against the peaceful citizens of Ukraine," Valerii Zaluzhnyi, the chief commander of Ukraine's Armed Forces, said in a Telegram post.
Anti-aircraft-guided missiles launched from Russia’s S-300 missile systems, a long-range surface-to-air system, were also fired Thursday morning.
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Kyiv Mayor Vitaly Klitschko said 16 missiles had been shot down over the capital city, though he did not confirm how many missiles were fired in total.
At least three people were injured in the strikes on Kyiv, including a 14-year-old girl, after debris from a downed missile crashed into a private residence.
Klitschko said 40 percent of the city was without power but said engineers were working to restore the energy supplies.
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A whopping 90 percent of the Western city of Lviv is without power after "explosions" were reported by the city mayor.
Lviv mayor Andriy Sadovy warned that water supplies may also be cut off and urged citizens to stay in shelters as the city works to get generators up and running.
Odesa in southwestern Ukraine stopped 21 missiles fired at it, according to Kyiv Independent.
Kamikaze drones also reportedly targeted infrastructure in the Kharkiv, Zaporizhzhya, and Dnipropetrovsk regions, according to Ukraine’s General Staff.
Kyiv's top defense officials have repeatedly called on its Western allies for improved air defenses, noting that while Ukraine’s troops have advanced on the ground, it is unable to adequately defend its citizens from the skies as Russia continues its constant aerial assaults.
"We cannot defeat them comprehensively in all directions," head of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, Major General Kyrylo Budanov said in an interview with BBC Thursday.
"The situation is just stuck," he said, noting that without more air defenses and advanced weaponry the situation in Ukraine remains at an impasse. "We look forward to new shipments of weapons and the arrival of more advanced weapons."
Progress on the front lines has largely stalled, though intense fighting in Donetsk and particularly around Bakhmut continues.
Russian forces have gone on the defensive in other regions, including Kherson and Luhansk, as they look to hold on to the territory they occupy.
