NATO was forced to scramble fighter jets after the Russian forces overnight launched one of the biggest attacks in the war on Ukraine.
Moscow bombed the country with 653 drones and 53 hypersonic and ballistic missiles across 60 waves airstrikes, Ukraine’s Air Force said.
Footage showed massive flames erupting from buildings as explosions ripped through the country.
More than 30 locations were attacked by Russian Tu-95MS and Tu-160MS strategic bombers, including areas in Poltava, Lutsk, Odesa, Zaporizhzhia, and Bila Tserkva.
In Chernihiv Oblast, Russian drones hit a residential area.
At least three people have so far been injured in the strikes.
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Nato member Poland said its Air Force scrambled fighter jets as “a preventive measure” due to the nature of the attacks.
The Operational Command of the Armed Forces said: “Due to the activity of long-range Russian air forces carrying out strikes on Ukrainian territory, military aviation has begun operating in Polish airspace.
“The Operational Command of the Polish Armed Forces has activated the necessary forces and resources at its disposal.
“Fighter aircraft have been scrambled, and ground-based air defence and radar reconnaissance systems have reached a state of readiness.
“These actions are preventative in nature and aimed at securing and protecting airspace.”
The overnight blitz was aimed at criplling Ukraine’s critical energy infrastructure as a chilling winter looms.
Ukrainian air defences shot down 585 drones, 29 cruise missiles, and one ballistic missile.
Russia has intensified its attacks on Ukraine’s energy sector and infrastructure in recent weeks, targeting power stations and railway hubs.
Vitaliy Zaichenko, head of Ukraine’s state grid operator Ukrenergo, told the Kyiv Independent that the attack was “quite severe” for Ukraine’s power systems.
Power and heat generation facilities in Chernihiv, Zaporizhzhia, Lviv, and Dnipropetrovsk regions were targeted in the attack, Ukraine’s ministry for development of communities and territories said.
It said that 9,500 customers remained without heat and 34,000 without a water supply in the southern Odesa region.
“Port facilities [in Odesa] have also been attacked: part of the infrastructure has been de-energised, and operators have switched to backup power from generators,” the ministry said.
Ukraine’s energy ministry said the attack hit energy infrastructure in eight regions overnight, causing blackouts.
“Emergency repair work is already underway where safety conditions permit. Energy companies are doing everything possible to restore power to all customers as quickly as possible,” the ministry said on the Telegram messenger.
Marathon peace talks
As Vladimir Putin continues to bomb Ukraine, top diplomats from Kyiv and Washington are holding crunch talks in hopes of achieving peace in the war-torn nation.
Delegates from both sides are due to meet in Miami today for a third straight day of talks.
Washington said the two sides agreed that “real progress” would depend on Russia‘s willingness to end the war.
President Donald Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner have been meeting top Ukrainian negotiator Rustem Umerov and Andrii Hnatov, the chief of staff of Kyiv’s armed forces.
President Volodymyr Zelensky said he expected that the results of previous meetings with the US in Geneva, which took place two weeks ago, would now be “hammered out”.
Kyiv is facing significant pressure from Washington to agree to the terms of a peace deal – all while Zelensky finds himself in the most difficult political and military situation.
The Geneva meetings allowed Ukraine to present a counteroffer to proposals laid out in Trump’s initial 28-point peace plan.
The initial proposal heavily favoured Russia, prompting Zelensky to quickly engage with American negotiators.
Kyiv said it was seeking changes to the draft that was criticised for being in Moscow‘s favour for accepting a range of Russia‘s hardline demands.
The original Kremlin-backed plan ceded Crimea and the Donbas region to Moscow, as well as parts of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia – with the US officially recognising them as part of the Russian territory.
While a revised 19-point plan scraps any limits on the size of Ukraine’s armyit does not address control of territory or whether Ukraine can join Nato – two of the biggest red lines for both sides.
Zelensky has said Ukraine is in one of the most difficult moments in its historybut promised his people in a dramatic address last week that he would not betray the country.
But reports suggest that the plan to recognise territory taken by Moscow through force is likely to go ahead despite concern from Ukraine‘s allies in Europe.
The talks come after Witkoff and Kushner met Putin at the Kremlin on Tuesday to discuss a US plan to end the conflict, but Moscow rejected parts of the proposal.
Putin also vowed to seize the Donbass region by force if no peace deal was found, just days after also threatening he was “ready” to fight Europe.