🔗 Share this article

Russia targeted Ukraine with missile and drone attacks overnight on Saturday and into the early hours of Sunday, concentrating on the key western urban center of Lviv.

Ukraine's neighbour Polish authorities activated combat aircraft to guarantee the safety of Polish airspace, the national defense forces announced. NATO partner planes were also deployed.

Lviv's regional head local authorities confirmed two individuals were killed in strikes in the region, and an additional two wounded.

Elsewhere, Russian forces once more struck Ukraine's power plants - and a facility was hit in an overnight attack on Zaporizhzhia region, where the mayor reported one person died and more than 73,000 people were without electricity.

Military Response

These attacks came shortly following a American representative stated the United States would endorse Ukrainian forces conducting long-range attacks within Russia's borders.

"Polish and allied aircraft are active in Polish skies, while ground-based air defence and radar reconnaissance systems have been brought to the highest state of readiness," Poland's operational command said.

At early morning, all of Ukraine was under air raid alerts following Ukrainian Air Force warnings of Russian missile and drone attacks.

Energy System Attacks

Russian military has escalated its assaults against Ukraine's energy infrastructure.

Lviv's mayor Andriy Sadovyi reported part of the city - 43 miles from the border with Poland - had no power, adding that the city's air defence systems were actively involved in countering first a drone and then a missile strike.

As of 07:30, multiple areas were experiencing outages and municipal transit was yet to start running, with Sadovyi emphasizing that it was "unsafe to go out into the streets".

In the Zaporizhzhia area, Russia's overnight attack left "over seventy-three thousand users... without power", according to Ivan Fedorov.

One person was fatally wounded, and nine injured, authorities confirmed.

A 16-year-old girl was among those requiring hospital treatment, he added, posting photos apparently showing a partly destroyed apartment building and a destroyed vehicle from the site of the attack.

Regional Impact

Municipal transit in another western city, would "start running later than usual" on Sunday morning, its city administration said.

The series of attacks were components of Russia's threats against the entire nation overnight.

At around 06:00, Ukrainian defense officials said all of the country was under the threat of fresh Russian missile attacks, following hours of air raid alerts and warnings of drone and missile attacks.

Occupied Regions

Moscow's troops have occupied the majority of the Donbas area, including key eastern cities.

Russia presently holds around one-fifth of Ukrainian territory, including the Crimea region, which it seized in 2014.

Global Developments

In Russia, air defence units eliminated multiple UAVs during the night, news agencies reported on Sunday morning.

Recently, a US Special Envoy said that the United States would back Ukrainian forces launching deep strikes inside Russian territories.

Meanwhile, another Nato member - Lithuania - had to suspend flights temporarily after objects were spotted.

Authorities suspended flights at its largest and busiest Vilnius airport for several hours, before reopening it at early morning on Sunday.

The airport's operator stated the operational pauses and diversions were "due to a potential stream of balloons approaching the aviation facility".