Five killed in large Russian missile and drone attack, Zelensky says

Five people have died and tens of thousands have been left without power in Ukraine after intense Russian missile and drone attacks overnight, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said.

Four members of one family, including a 15-year-old girl, were killed by a strike in the village of Lapaivka as attacks mostly targeted the western region of Lviv.

One person also died in Zaporizhzhia. Zelensky said Russia fired more than 50 missiles and around 500 attack drones. Ukraine’s air force put the combined figure at 549.

Russia’s defence ministry said it had successfully carried out a “massive” strike on Ukrainian military and infrastructure targets.

Ukraine’s neighbour Poland scrambled fighter jets to ensure the safety of Polish airspace, its military confirmed. Allied Nato aircraft were also deployed.

Lviv endured several hours of strikes, leading to the suspension of public transport services and the cutting of electrical supplies.

Maksym Kozytskyi, Lviv’s regional head, said it was the largest attack on the region since Russia began its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. He said around 163 drones and missiles were identified in the area.

Kozytskyi said the arms targeted residential buildings, hospitals, civilian industrial facilities and gas transportation infrastructure.

He added that the attack was “especially cynical” as it came as Ukrainians typically begin heating their homes.

Another family member of those killed in Lapaivka was injured, as were two neighbours.

The Ivano-Frankivsk, Chernihiv, Sumy, Kharkiv, Kherson, Odesa, and Kirovohrad regions were also targeted, according to Zelensky.

He added: “We need more protection and faster implementation of all defense agreements, especially on air defense, to deprive this aerial terror of any meaning.

“A unilateral ceasefire in the skies is possible – and it is precisely that which could open the way to real diplomacy.”

Russia continues to focus its attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure as winter approaches.

Kyiv’s energy ministry said overnight attacks caused damage in Chernihiv, Sumy and Zaporizhzhia.

In the latter, Russia’s overnight attack left “more than 73,000 consumers… without electricity” after a power plant was struck, according to Ivan Fedorov, the regional head.

A woman was killed and several others injured in Zaporizhzhia.

A 16-year-old girl was among those receiving medical assistance, Fedorov added, posting photos apparently showing a partly destroyed multi-storey block and a burnt-out car from the site of the attack.

Emergency outages were implemented in Chernihiv and Sumy, the energy ministry added.

Lviv’s mayor Andriy Sadovyi said part of the city – 70 km (43 miles) from the border with Poland – had no power, adding that city’s air defence systems were engaged heavily in repelling first a drone and then a Russian missile attack.

Ukraine’s air force said it recorded direct hits by eight Russian missiles and 57 drones at 20 locations across the country, as well as fragments from downed arms at six locations.

It said 478 missiles and drones were downed and six did not reach their targets.

On the ground, Russian forces have occupied most of Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region, including Luhansk and Donetsk, since the start of its invasion.

Russia currently controls around a fifth of Ukrainian territory, including the Crimean peninsula it annexed in 2014.

The Russian assaults came days after a US official said the US would support Ukraine launching strikes deep inside Russian territory.

When asked about US President Donald Trump’s position on the matter, US Special Envoy to Ukraine Keith Kellogg told Fox News: “The answer is yes, use the ability to hit deep, there are no such things as sanctuaries.”

Ukraine has repeatedly attacked targets inside Russia, but has been limited by the range of the weapons it has been supplied.

It has recently been stepping up strikes on Russian oil refineries, leading to petrol shortages in parts of the country.

In Russia, air defence units destroyed 32 Ukrainian drones overnight, the state-owned news agency RIA reported on Sunday, citing data from Russia’s defence ministry.