Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has called on allies to exert pressure on Russia to halt its war against Ukraine, beginning with an air and naval ceasefire. His appeal came after Moscow launched a massive drone and missile attack on Ukraine’s energy and gas infrastructure on Friday, reports RFE.
According to Zelensky, Russia fired nearly 70 cruise and ballistic missiles and deployed around 200 drones in the attack, which also struck residential buildings.
“The first steps toward establishing genuine peace must be forcing the sole source of this war—Russia—to stop these attacks on life itself,” Zelensky stated. “This can be realistically controlled. Silence in the sky—stopping the use of missiles, long-range drones, and aerial bombs. And also silence at sea—a real guarantee for normal navigation.”
The attack, the 30th targeting Ukraine’s energy infrastructure since Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022, is part of Moscow’s broader strategy to cripple Ukraine’s vital energy sector. In the past two weeks, Russian strikes have repeatedly hit energy facilities in the Odesa region.
Ukraine’s Air Force reported that the assault began at 3:03 a.m. when Russia launched Kalibr cruise missiles from the Black Sea, followed by the deployment of a MiG-31K fighter jet carrying hypersonic Kinzhal missiles. Russian forces also unleashed a wave of drones in a coordinated strike.
In response, French-supplied F-16 and Mirage-2000 fighter jets were deployed to help repel the attack. Poland also activated its air defense systems and scrambled fighter jets, as its military monitored Russian long-range aerial activity.
Ukraine’s state gas company, Naftogaz, confirmed that this was the 17th combined attack on its infrastructure. CEO Roman Chumak stated that key production facilities were severely damaged, but recovery efforts were already underway.
Despite Moscow’s repeated denials of targeting civilian infrastructure, Ukraine and international organizations have classified such strikes as war crimes.
