RUSSIA launched a massive air attack on Ukraine yesterday, forcing the country to introduce power cuts, according to Ukrainian Energy Minister Herman Halushchenko.

“The enemy continues to terrorise Ukrainians,” Mr Halushchenko wrote on Facebook, urging residents to stay in shelters during air raid alerts and follow official updates.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky claimed that his forces had shot down 30 of the 40 missiles launched, adding that around 70 strike drones were involved in the attack. It remains unclear how many were intercepted.

State energy company Ukrenergo reported emergency power cuts in the Kharkiv, Sumy, Poltava, Zaporizhzhia, Dnipropetrovsk and Kirovohrad regions.

The attack took place the day after the Russian Defence Ministry accused Ukraine of firing multiple Western-made missiles at Russia’s Bryansk region on the border with Ukraine, claiming in an online statement that the attack “will not go unanswered.”

Kiev has not confirmed the attack.

Russian forces have repeatedly targeted Ukraine’s energy infrastructure during almost three years of war.

“It is the middle of the winter and Russia’s goal remains unchanged: our energy infrastructure,” Mr Zelensky wrote on the Telegram social media service following the attack.

He urged Western partners to provide Ukraine with additional air defence weapons, emphasising that “promises have been made but not yet fully realised.”