Russia launches another wave of missiles and drones at Ukraine | News on the Russia-Ukraine war

A day earlier, Russia had already carried out a “massive” attack on the Ukrainian power grid and launched a barrage of missile and drone attacks on several Ukrainian regions, killing at least four people.

Two people were killed when a hotel was “obliterated” in the central Ukrainian city of Kryvyi Rih, regional officials said on Tuesday. Two more people died in drone strikes on the city of Zaporizhia, east of Kryvyi Rih.

The Kyiv region's air defense systems were deployed several times overnight to repel missiles and drones aimed at Kyiv, the regional military administration said via the messaging app Telegram.

Ukrainian air defenses shot down about 15 drones and several missiles near the Ukrainian capital during Russia's nighttime attack, Serhiy Popko, head of the Kyiv military administration, said on Tuesday morning.

“Everything that flew into the capital of Ukraine was destroyed,” he said on Telegram.

Ukraine shot down five Russian-launched missiles and 60 drones during the nighttime attack, the Ukrainian Air Force said on Tuesday.

Russia fired a total of 91 missiles from several regions, including ten rockets and 81 Iranian-made attack drones, it said in a social media post.

The Ukrainian Air Force also said it had registered the launch of several drone groups as well as the launch of Tu-85 strategic bombers and MiG-31 supersonic interceptors from Russian airfields.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a post on X: “We will undoubtedly hold Russia accountable for this and all other attacks. Crimes against humanity must not go unpunished.” He said 16 people were injured in the attacks.

Russia fired more than 200 missiles and drones on Monday, killing at least seven people and damaging energy infrastructure. US President Joe Biden condemned the attack as “outrageous”.

“I strongly condemn Russia's ongoing war against Ukraine and its efforts to plunge the Ukrainian people into darkness,” he said in a statement.

“Let me be clear: Russia will never succeed in Ukraine and the spirit of the Ukrainian people will never be broken.”

The Russian Defense Ministry said Monday's attacks hit “all intended targets” in Ukraine's critical energy infrastructure.

Zelensky, who held a press conference later on Tuesday, said Ukraine intends to present a plan to end the war with Russia to Biden and Democratic and Republican U.S. presidential candidates Kamala Harris and Donald Trump.

He said the war would ultimately be ended through dialogue, but Kyiv must be in a strong position to advance its vision of peace at a summit it plans to convene later this year.

“Act of retaliation”

Several Russian military bloggers, including the pro-war collective Rybar, described the attacks as an “act of retaliation” for Ukraine's surprise invasion of Russia's Kursk region.

The Kremlin announced a response to Ukrainian actions in Kursk on Monday, but three weeks after the invasion, Kyiv claimed to have made further advances. Russia claims it continues to shell Ukrainian troops there but has not been able to repel them.

On Tuesday, Ukrainian army chief Oleksandr Syrskyi said his forces now controlled 1,294 square kilometers (500 square miles) and 100 settlements in Kursk, adding that Ukraine had captured 594 Russian soldiers during the incursion.

Al Jazeera's Alex Gatopoulos from Kyiv described Monday's attacks as “the heaviest airstrike Ukraine has endured in months, aimed primarily at destroying electricity and water networks. In the third year of the war, there is no end in sight to these long-range Russian attacks.”

“The defenses have been on high alert for more than 24 hours now,” he said, adding that the attacks on Kyiv's energy sources had had a huge impact.

“Parts of the capital are still without electricity. We are seeing the effects here as Ukrainian workers try to repair the power grid,” Gatopoulos said.

The Kremlin denies targeting civilians in the war that President Vladimir Putin began with a large-scale invasion of Russia's smaller neighbor in February 2022.

Air raid warnings were in place for most of the night in Kryvyi Rih, Kyiv and the central and eastern regions of Ukraine.

Two civilians may still be lying under the rubble of the hotel in Kryvyi Rih and five were injured in the attack, Serhiy Lisak, the governor of the Dnipropetrovsk region, where Kryvyi Rih is located, said on Telegram.

In addition, six shops, four high-rise buildings and eight cars were damaged, he added.

Two people were killed and four injured in Zaporizhia overnight, Ivan Fedorov, governor of the Zaporizhia region, said on Telegram.

“These are the consequences of the Shaheds' night attack on Zaporizhia,” Fedorov said, referring to the Iranian-made kamikaze drones that Ukraine says Russia uses in its attacks.

IAEA chief visits Russian Kursk nuclear power plant

Rafael Grossi, the head of the United Nations nuclear agency, visited the Kursk nuclear power plant, which Moscow says has been repeatedly attacked by Ukrainian forces just 40 kilometers away after they seized a piece of Russian territory.

Before his trip, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) had stated that the only way to assess the safety of the power plant and confirm the information received was to visit the site, which belongs to the Russian state nuclear company Rosatom.

“The safety of nuclear facilities must not be compromised under any circumstances,” said Grossi. “The safety of all nuclear power plants is a central and fundamental concern for the IAEA.”

The safety of nuclear power plants has been repeatedly compromised throughout the war. Moscow and Kiev have repeatedly accused each other of drone and artillery attacks on the Russian-controlled Zaporizhia nuclear power plant in Ukraine.

Meanwhile, Russian Telegram channels with links to the secret services said on Tuesday that Ukrainian troops had attacked the border, although there was initially no official confirmation of fighting there.

The governor of the Russian region of Belgorod, Vyacheslav Gladkov, said on Tuesday that the situation on the border with Ukraine was “difficult, but under control”.

“There is information that the enemy is trying to break through the border of the Belgorod region,” Gladkov wrote on Telegram.

“Our military is carrying out planned work. Please remain calm and trust only official sources of information.”