On the morning of November 17, Russia carried out one of its largest air strikes on Ukraine, launching dozens of missiles and drones at peaceful cities. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiga said the attack was Vladimir Putin's response to all Western leaders who had recently contacted him in an attempt to reach an agreement.
Sibiga emphasized that Russia continues its aggressive policy and called on the international community to take decisive action:
“This is the real answer from the war criminal Putin to everyone who has called and visited him recently. We need peace through force, not appeasement,” the minister wrote on the social network X.
According to the Ukrainian Air Force, the attack began at 05:42 a.m. At least 45 missiles were recorded in the sky, including Calibers and Daggers. The targets of the Russian strikes included Kyiv, Odessa, 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, including electricity generation and transmission facilities. As a result, the transmission system operator was forced to implement an emergency shutdown regime.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has previously warned of the possibility of new massive strikes by Russia aimed at undermining the energy system and the morale of Ukrainians. The massive attack on November 17 was yet another confirmation of this scenario.
