Russia launches barrage of 99 drones and missiles on Ukraine’s energy system, officials say

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Moscow launched a large-scale attack on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure Friday, with a mass barrage of 99 drones and missiles hitting regions across the country, Ukraine’s armed forces said.

Air raid warnings rang out across the country, with 10 Ukrainian regions coming under fire, the country’s Interior Minister, Ihor Klymenko, said.

Russia has escalated its attacks on Ukraine in recent days, launching several

missile barrages on the capital, Kyiv,

and hitting energy infrastructure across the country in apparent retaliation for recent Ukrainian aerial attacks on the Russian

border region of Belgorod

. Such sporadic attacks, however, have been common throughout the war.

In the winter of 2022-23, Russia

targeted Ukraine’s energy infrastructure

, causing frequent blackouts across the country. Many in Ukraine and the West expected that Russia might repeat this strategy this winter, but Russia instead focused its strikes on Ukraine’s defense industries.

Ukraine’s state-owned grid operator, Ukrenergo, said that Friday's attack deliberately targeted thermal and hydroelectric power plants across central and western regions.

DTEK, Ukraine’s largest private electricity operator, also said that three of its thermal power plants had been damaged in the attack.

Elsewhere, five people, including a 5-year-old girl, were wounded during the attack in Ukraine’s Dnipropetrovsk region, said local governor Serhii Lysak.

He later said that another man had been killed and one more injured in a separate drone attack Friday.

The bombardment in the west of Ukraine caused the Polish Armed Forces to scramble its own aircraft, the country’s operational command said on social media.

Last week Warsaw demanded an explanation from Moscow, after one of its missiles

strayed briefly into Polish airspace

during a major missile attack on Ukraine, prompting the NATO member to activate F-16 fighter jets.

Romania’s defense ministry also said on Friday that an investigation has been launched after fragments that appear to be from a drone were identified on its territory Thursday evening in an agricultural area of Braila county, close to the border with Ukraine.

It did not provide additional details, although since the start of the full-scale invasion of neighboring Ukraine, NATO member Romania has confirmed

drone fragments on its territory

on several occasions.

Belgorod also came under fire Friday, Russia's Ministry of Defense wrote on social media. It said that it shot down 15 Ukrainian shells, with falling debris damaging a number of residential buildings. No casualties were reported. ___

Stephen McGrath in Sighisoara, Romania, contributed to this report.