Editor’s Note: This is a developing story and is being updated.
Russia launched a large-scale missile attack at Ukraine in the early hours of Oct. 16, targeting cities in several regions and triggering air raid sirens across the country.
Ukraine’s Air Force issued a nationwide missile threat at around 5:20 a.m. local time, warning that Russia had launched MiG-31 bombers. An hour later, the Air Force announced that another Russian MiG-31 had taken off from the Savasleyka airfield in Nizhny Novgorod.
The MiG-31 aircraft is capable of carrying Kinzhal hypersonic missiles, which Russia uses to strike targets deep inside Ukraine.
Shortly after the first alert, explosions rocked multiple Ukrainian cities. Explosions have so far been reported in Kharkiv and Izium (Kharkiv Oblast), Kropyvnytskyi (Kirovohrad Oblast), and Poltava (Poltava Oblast), according to the news outlet Suspilne.
Attacks remain ongoing and information about damage and casualties is not yet available.
Russia’s latest attack involved ballistic and cruise missiles as well as swarms of Shahed-style drones, the Air Force said.
The attack comes hours after U.S. President Donald Trump urged Russian President Vladimir Putin to stop killing Ukrainians during a press conference in the Oval Office on Oct. 15.
Trump is set to meet President Volodymyr Zelensky at the White House on Oct. 17, where the two leaders will discuss Ukraine’s long-range strike capabilities, air defense needs, and the possibility of the U.S. providing Tomahawk missiles to Kyiv.
Russia has warned that Tomahawks would be a major escalation that would demand an aggressive response — even as Moscow pounds Ukrainian cities and civilian targets with long-range missiles night after night.
Moscow has been ramping up mass attacks against Ukraine’s energy infrastructure ahead of winter, causing blackouts and heavy damage to critical facilities as the weather worsens and the nights get longer.
A mass missile attack against Kyiv on Oct. 10 damaged a thermal power plant in the city and left hundreds of thousands of households without power. The attack also killed a child and injured 24 people.
Read also: Ukrainians brace for another harsh winter as blackout fears return
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