Targeting energy infrastructure facilities of Ukraine, Russia unleashed a massive missile barrage on cities across the country early Thursday, according to the officials and media reports.

Air defence system activated across Ukraine

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

Taking notes from the attack, the governor of the northeastern Kharkiv region, Oleh Syniehubov said that over 15 strikes on Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city.

“Objects of critical infrastructure are 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.

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‘Massive missile attack’

“The second wave is expected right now, so I ask the residents of the region to stay in shelters!” Marchenko wrote on Telegram, saying the region was hit with a “massive missile attack.”

Moreover, 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.

Earlier, on February 16 latest massive barrage took place.