Vlad launches ‘biggest attack yet’ with 150 missiles & drones including hypersonics & warship killers blitzing civilians
VLADIMIR Putin has unleashed hell on civilians using an arsenal of 150 devastating weapons designed to blitz warships and infrastructure.
The attack by Russia on Ukraine appears to be the largest launched since the Russian tyrant, 71, invaded Ukraine in February 2022.
Eighty-eight missiles and 66 drones were allegedly used in the air attack which could have been Russia's biggest against Ukraine - ever.
Among the munitions used in the overnight blitz were 66 Shahed-136/131 one-way attack drones, 40 Kh-101/555 air-launched cruise missiles, and 22 S-300/400 tactical ballistic missiles, according to the Ukrainian Air Force.
Russia also allegedly employed 12 Iskander-M ballistic missiles, seven Kh-47M2 "Kinzhal" hypersonic missiles, five Kh-22 long-range anti-ship missiles, and two Kh-59 land-attack cruise missiles in the attack.
The deadly £4.5million "Kinzhal" rockets which Putin reportedly used against civilians have previously been described by the despot as "an ideal weapon", capable of travelling at 12 times the speed of sound.
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Moscow has claimed they are "unstoppable" against Western missile defence systems.
The Kh-22 "Storm" missile allegedly employed were designed for use against aircraft carriers and carrier battle groups.
Cruel Putin used the full force of his lethal weaponry overnight to target civilian infrastructure across multiple cities, with dramatic footage showing fire engulf the Dnipro power plant and dam.
Reeling from the deadly overnight attack, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said: "There were more than 60 [Iranian-made] 'Shaheds' and almost 90 missiles of various types overnight.
"The world sees the targets of Russian terrorists as clearly as possible: power plants and energy supply lines, a hydroelectric dam, ordinary residential buildings, even a trolleybus."
The numbers of dead and wounded were not immediately clear.
The Dnipro plant, Ukraine’s largest hydroelectric power station, was ablaze overnight, while footage showed the mangled and still burning wreckage of a trolleybus.
The dam - part of the hydro facility - managed to survive the attack but terrifying pictures show it engulfed in flames with serious damage to its structure as day broke.
“The fire at the station continues,” said the Ukrhydroenergo power company.
“Emergency services and energy workers are working on the spot, overcoming the consequences of numerous airstrikes. There is no threat of a breakthrough [of the dam].
“The situation at the station dam is under control.”
Ukraine claimed to have downed at least 92 munitions - including 55 Shahed-136/131 drones, 35 Kh-101/555 missiles, and two Kh-59 missiles - of 154 estimated incoming drones and missiles.
Petro Andryushenko, adviser to the exiled Ukrainian mayor of Mariupol, slammed the attacks as "real terrorism".
The Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant was cut off from electricity due to the bombardment, Ukraine's energy minister Herman Halushchenko said.
“This is the largest attack on Ukraine’s energy sector in recent times,” he added.
Separately, Kharkiv was hit by power and water outages in some of the strongest bombardments of the war from Putin’s strategic aerial bombers.
The Kharkiv Transport Engineering Plant which produces and repairs tanks was hit among at least 15 other explosions in the city.
It appeared to be the biggest strike of the war against energy facilities in Ukraine with the internet down and domestic and industrial electricity supplies hit.
President Zelensky once again expressed his bitterness at the slow pace of Western munitions supplies to Ukraine.
"Russian missiles do not have delays, as do aid packages to our country. The 'Shahed' [Iranian drones] have no indecision, like some politicians.
"It is important to understand the cost of delays and postponed decisions," he said.
For the second day in succession, Nato war planes in Poland were scrambled due to “the activity of Russian long-range aviation”.
At least 13 Tu-95MS aircraft - part of Putin’s nuclear warhead carrying fleet - launched cruise missiles at Ukraine.
In Kyiv, thousands were forced to sit through the long night in underground shelters.
In Zaporizhzhia, there were 12 missile strikes. Seven houses were destroyed, 35 were damaged and the casualties are being determined.
Explosions were recorded in Kanatovo, near Kirovograd, a reserve air base of the Ukrainian Air Force, as well as Kremenchuk, Burshtyn, Khmelnitsky Odesa, Zhytomyr, and Vinnytsia.
A large local hydroelectric power station was completely out of order in Ladyzhyn, Vinnytsia region.
Oleksandr Symchyshyn, mayor of the western city of Khmelnytskyi, described "a horrible morning" with damage to infrastructure and residential buildings.
"There are victims and casualties among civilians," he wrote on Telegram.
Pro-Kremlin Russian Telegram channel War Gonzo branded the brutal strikes as “judgement night and morning”.
Earlier this week, Putin had vowed to strike back vengeance for what he saw as Ukrainian hits on civilians in Russia’s Belgorod region.
He said: “We can respond in the same way.
“[We can hit] civilian infrastructure and all other objects of this kind that the enemy attacks.”
The new missile and drone blitz came only a day after Putin attacked Kyiv with his new terrifying 9,200mph hypersonic "Dagger" missiles just hours before Nato chiefs were due to visit.
Russia fired 31 ballistic and cruise missiles before dawn on Thursday - which marked their attack on the capital in six weeks.
The attack occurred hours after a visit to Kyiv by President Joe Biden's top foreign policy adviser, Jake Sullivan as well as other European diplomats.
On Wednesday, Russian ballistic missiles killed five people and injured nine in the eastern Kharkiv region, while strikes on southern Odesa last week killed 21.
However, Russia suffered further humiliation when anti-Putin partisans ambushed soldiers before eliminating elite Spetsnaz commandos with drones on Thursday.
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Meanwhile, a top Kremlin crony claimed that it would take "just two minutes to nuke Paris" in an aggressive warning to France.
The vice-president of the Duma, Pyotr Tolstoy, raised the possibility of sending a nuclear bomb to Paris if French troops rock up in Ukraine.