Russia launches lengthy missile and drone barrage, Kherson power plant knocked out

Ukraine's military said it intercepted seven ballistic missiles and 258 drones as Russia launched a prolonged bombardment spanning Wednesday night into Thursday. Foreign minister Andrii Sybiha said the strikes targeted ports, grain storage, energy and industrial infrastructure using ballistic and hypersonic missiles alongside attack drones. Kyiv residents commuted to work amid the sound of air defences engaging waves of drones overhead.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said this week that Kyiv had received a small batch of US-made Patriot interceptors capable of downing ballistic missiles.

In Kharkiv, one person was killed and two injured when a shopping centre was hit around lunchtime, regional governor Oleh Syniehubov said. The attacks also damaged a retail distribution centre in the Kyiv region and a toy company's shipment hub. Chocolate maker Roshen, founded by former president Petro Poroshenko, reported that one of its warehouses near Kyiv was destroyed. Further strikes hit industrial and energy sites in the Poltava and Odesa regions and in Kryvyi Rih.

Kherson left facing prolonged blackout

The most severe damage was reported in Kherson, where a strike on a thermal power plant knocked out its entire generating capacity, according to state company Naftogaz. Chief executive Sergiy Fedorenko said the facility was a purely civilian site supplying heat to much of the city's housing stock. Regional governor Oleksandr Prokudin urged residents, particularly families with children and elderly people, to leave, warning that Kherson could be without power or heating for an extended period rather than days.

Six Russian drones entered Moldovan airspace, prompting President Maia Sandu to condemn what she called an act of intimidation. In St Petersburg, a Russian serviceman was killed in a car bomb attack that also injured his wife.

Separately, the Netherlands, Poland, Spain and Sweden urged the EU on Thursday to revisit using frozen Russian central bank assets to help fund Ukraine. In Slovakia, prosecutors said they had foiled a planned arson attack on drone manufacturer Skyeton and detained a Latvian national among the suspects, while another 26-year-old Latvian was detained in Hamburg as part of the same investigation.