On the morning of November 17, Russia carried out one of the largest air attacks on Ukraine, launching dozens of missiles and drones on peaceful cities. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiga said that this attack is Vladimir Putin's response to all Western leaders who have recently contacted him in an attempt to reach an agreement.
Sybiga emphasized that Russia continues its aggressive policy and called on the international community to take decisive action:
"This is the real answer of the war criminal Putin to all those who called and visited him recently. We need peace through strength, not appeasement," the minister wrote on the X social network.
According to the Air Force of Ukraine, the attack began at 05:42 in the morning. At least 45 missiles were recorded in the sky, including Calibers and Daggers. The targets of the Russian strikes included Kyiv, Odesa, Kryvyi Rih, Kropyvnytskyi, as well as other regions of Ukraine such as Mykolaiv, Zhytomyr, Khmelnytskyi, Poltava and Chernihiv.
The Ministry of Energy stated that the Russian Federation attacked critical infrastructure, in particular electricity generation and transmission facilities. Because of this, the operator of the transmission system was forced to implement the mode of emergency shutdowns.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyi previously warned about the possibility of new massive strikes by the Russian Federation aimed at undermining the energy system and the morale of Ukrainians. The massive attack on November 17 was another confirmation of this scenario.
