Russian missiles target cities across Ukraine, officials say

KYIV, Ukraine — Russia unleashed a massive missile barrage on cities across Ukraine early Thursday, targeting energy infrastructure facilities, Ukrainian officials and media said.

Air raid sirens wailed all over Ukraine, including the capital, Kyiv, in the first such missile attack in three weeks. Ukrainian media said air defense systems were activated in multiple regions of the country.

The governor of the northeastern Kharkiv region, Oleh Syniehubov, reported more than 15 strikes on Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city.

“Objects of critical infrastructure is again in the crosshairs of the occupants,” he said in a Telegram post.

The governor of the southern Odesa region, Maksym Marchenko, also reported strikes on Odesa, saying that energy facilities and residential buildings were hit.

Explosions were also reported in the northern city of Chernihiv and the western Lviv region. Explosions were reported in cities in Dnieper, Lutsk and Rivne.

Russia has been hitting Ukraine with these massive missile attacks since last October. Initially, the barrages targeting the country’s energy infrastructure took place weekly, plunging the entire cities into darkness, but became more spread out in time, with commentators speculating that Moscow may be saving up ammunition.

The last massive barrage took place on Feb. 16.