Russia's Airstrikes on Ukraine During G20 Summit... "Largest Scale Since the Outbreak"

"2 Deaths in Poland"

(Photo by Reuters)

[Asia Economy Reporter Yujin Cho] On the 15th (local time), the day the Group of Twenty (G20) summit was held, Russian forces resumed large-scale missile strikes on Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine, and other major cities. This is the largest scale air raid since the beginning of the war, occurring about half a month after the end of last month. The air raid targeted energy facilities, causing power outages affecting 50% of Kyiv and 7 million households nationwide. Two people died after two missiles fell on Polish territory, a member country of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).

According to AP, CNN, CBS, and others, on this day, energy infrastructure in more than 12 major cities across Ukraine?including Kharkiv in the northeast, Lviv in the west, Zhytomyr in the northeast, and Sumy in the east?was attacked, causing power outages. Kyrylo Tymoshenko, deputy head of the Presidential Office, stated in a press release, "Russian terrorists have once again launched a planned attack on energy infrastructure," adding, "The situation in Kyiv is very serious." Especially in the severely affected northern and central regions, all electricity supply was cut off, and special emergency power outages were implemented in Kyiv as well.

Vitalii Klitschko, mayor of Kyiv, announced via Telegram, "Due to the large-scale missile attacks, emergency power outages have been ordered throughout Ukraine, and at least half of Kyiv’s areas have lost electricity." He also added that three residential buildings in the area were hit by Russian missile attacks.

The Ukrainian Air Force stated that approximately 100 missiles were launched by Russia across Ukraine on this day. This surpasses the 84 missiles fired on the 10th of last month as the first retaliation for the Crimean Bridge explosion, marking the largest scale since the start of the war.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

Volodymyr Zelensky, president of Ukraine, who is staying in Indonesia to attend the G20 summit, said in a video message, "Russia will not achieve its goals through missile bombings," adding, "We will restore everything. We will survive." In his G20 speech, President Zelensky compared the restoration of Kherson city to the Normandy landings on D-Day, stating that the war has reached a turning point.

Although Ukraine is not a G20 member, it attended the meeting at the invitation of Indonesia, the chair country. Andriy Yermak, head of the Ukrainian Presidential Office, tweeted, "Russia responded to President Zelensky’s G20 speech with new missile attacks," adding, "Terrorists always end up defeated."

Meanwhile, a senior U.S. intelligence official reported that two missiles launched by Russia fell on Polish territory, a member of NATO.

The official said that two people died from these missiles, and the Polish government is holding an emergency meeting to discuss countermeasures.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.