Damaged vehicles in Ukraine’s central Dnipropetrovsk region. Photo: Zelensky / Telegram

The Russian military launched another massive drone and missile attack on Ukraine overnight on Thursday, targeting energy infrastructure in several regions of the country and in the capital Kyiv in particular, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Friday.

The attack, which consisted of 15 missiles and nearly 500 drones, killed a child in southeastern Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia region and left over 20 other people injured. It also led to power outages in Kyiv as well as in eight regions of the country, according to state-owned electricity provider Ukrenergo.

According to Zelensky, the Russian attack targeted Ukraine’s energy network in a “cynical and calculated” manner, seeking to disrupt it and other civilian infrastructure in the run-up to winter.

“Together, we can protect people from this terror,” Zelensky said. “ We need decisive action, not empty words, from the US, Europe, and the G7 in terms of supplying air defence systems and imposing sanctions.”

In Kyiv, 12 people were injured as a result of the overnight assault, eight of whom were hospitalised, Mayor Vitaliy Klitschko said on Friday. The attack left much of the city without water or power and also sparked a fire in the city centre after drone debris struck a residential high-rise building, the mayor added.

Beyond the capital, a 7-year-old child was killed and seven others were injured during the overnight shelling of the Zaporizhzhia region, according to Governor Ivan Fedorov.

In the central Cherkasy region, 10 people were injured, including a 10-year-old child, after overnight attacks damaged seven high-rise buildings, according to Governor Ihor Taburets.

On Friday, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov called on Ukraine to come to the negotiating table, telling reporters that “the Kyiv regime doesn't realise that their negotiating position is deteriorating with each passing day,” TASS reported.