Russia fires more than 70 missiles on Ukraine, 5 killed

Russia fired more than 70 missiles at Ukraine in one of its biggest attacks since the start of the war, knocking out power in the second-biggest city and forcing Kyiv to implement emergency blackouts nationwide, Ukrainian officials said.As per reports death toll of Russian missile attack at residential building in Kryvyi Rih rises to 5, when an apartment block was hit in central Kryvyi Rih and another died in shelling in Kherson in the south, they said. Russian-installed officials in occupied eastern Ukraine said 12 people had died by Ukrainian shelling. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Russia still had enough missiles for several more massive strikes and he again urged western allies to supply Kyiv with more and better air defence systems.

Governor: Russia strikes Sumy Oblast 79 times on Dec. 16.

Zhyvytskyi said Russian forces used heavy artillery, grenade launchers, and drones to hit the communities of Bilopolska, Esmanska, Mykolaivska, Seredino-Budska, and Khotynska, all in the northern part of the oblast.

— The Kyiv Independent (@KyivIndependent) December 17, 2022

Russia flew warplanes near Ukraine to try to distract its air defences, Ukraine's air force said. Its army chief said 60 of 76 Russian missiles had been shot down but Energy Minister German Galushchenko said at least nine power-generating facilities had been hit. Moscow says the attacks are aimed at disabling Ukraine's military. Ukrainians call them a war crime. As per reports, Russian forces occupy around a fifth of Ukraine - in its south and east, and many soldiers have been reported killed and wounded on both sides in brutal fighting, although neither issues detailed reports of their own military casualties.