Four power plants hit in massive Russian overnight attacks on Ukraine

Kyiv, April 27 (IANS/DPA) At least four thermal power plants were damaged as Russia again targeted Ukraine with a round of massive airstrikes overnight, the operator said on Saturday.

Of the 32 missiles and cruise missiles launched from the air, the Black Sea and the ground, 21 were intercepted, the Ukrainian Air Force said.

Several people were injured at the damaged energy facilities, operator DTEK said, adding that workers were trying to repair the damage, the company added.

Air raid sirens sounded across the country ahead of the attacks which had mainly targeted power plants, according to the Energy Ministry, Kyiv.

According to the authorities, two power plants were hit in the south-eastern Dnipropetrovsk region, in the country's industrial heartland. Attacks from the western Lviv and Ivano-Frankivsk regions were also reported.

Authorities also reported explosions in Kharkiv, the north-eastern city near the Russian border that has been repeatedly the target of attacks in recent weeks.

The grounds of a hospital were hit in the Russian attack, it said, with buildings damaged and windows shattered due to the blast wave from an explosion. One patient was injured in her bed. The authorities also published pictures of the damage.

Russia, which launched a full-scale invasion of neighbouring Ukraine more than two years ago, was also targeted in overnight attacks, with the country's air defence saying it had intercepted 66 Ukrainian drones over the Krasnodar region, which lies to the east of the Black Sea peninsula of Crimea.

Moscow illegally annexed the Crimean peninsula from Ukraine in 2014.

According to the local authorities, an oil processing plant in Krasnodar was damaged in a fire, but no one was injured.

Two drones were reportedly also shot down above Crimea.

Source: IANS