WEB DESK
More than one million people in Ukraine have been reportedly left without power after Russia launched a massive strike on the country’s energy grid overnight. At least 12 areas across Ukraine, including three western regions, have been hit and Energy Minister Herman Halushchenko said emergency power outages had been introduced. Explosions have been reported in several cities, including Odesa, Kharkiv, and Lutsk.
Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that launching a barrage of missile attacks against Ukraine was Moscow’s way of responding to Kyiv’s use of Western weapons. During his visit to Kazakhstan, he said, it was a response to continued attacks on Russian territory by supersonic tactical ballistic ATACMS missiles. The Russian leader had previously criticized Ukraine’s allies granting permission for Kyiv to use Western-supplied weapons to strike targets on Russian territory, warning of retaliation