RUSSIANS and Ukrainians were killed in crossfires today following one of the largest attacks by Moscow in recent weeks.

Electrical power facilities in much of Ukraine were hit by more than 60 drones and about 90 rockets, according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, causing widespread outages and killing at least five people.

Ukrainian Energy Minister German Galushchenko accused Russia of trying to provoke “a large-scale failure of the country’s energy system.”

Ukraine has attacked Russian energy installations such as oil refineries using drones in recent weeks, prompting Washington to advise it to stop because of the risk of massive retaliation.

The power outages left 1,060 miners trapped in the Dnipropetrovsk region and an evacuation was underway as the Morning Star went to print.

Shelling of areas near its border by Ukraine killed one person and injured at least three, according to Russian officials.

The governor of the Belgorod region, Vyacheslav Gladkov, said a woman was killed when a shell hit nearby while she was walking her dogs.

Mr Zelensky called on Ukraine’s Western allies to provide additional air defence systems and ammunition.