Russia’s biggest missile barrage crosses into Poland

Agencies | Kyiv                 

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com  

A Russian missile barrage on the Ukrainian power grid sent the war spilling over into neighbouring countries yesterday, hitting Nato member Poland and cutting electricity to much of Moldova.

It was Russia’s biggest barrage yet, and some of the missiles crossed into Poland, where two people were killed, according to a US official.

It marked the first time in the war that Russian weapons have come down on a Nato country. Polish government spokesman Piotr Mueller did not immediately confirm the information from a senior US intelligence official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the situation.

But Mueller said top leaders were holding an emergency meeting due to a “crisis situation.” Polish media reported that two people died yesterday afternoon after a projectile struck an area where grain was drying in Przewodow, a Polish village near the border with Ukraine.

Neighbouring Moldova was also affected. It reported massive power outages after the strikes knocked out a key power line that supplies the small nation, an official said. Zelensky said Russia fired at least 85 missiles, most of them aimed at the country’s power facilities, and blacked out many cities.

“We’re working, will restore everything. We will survive everything,” the president vowed. His energy minister said the attack was “the most massive” bombardment of power facilities in the nearly 9-month-old Russian invasion, striking both power generation and transmission systems.

The minister, Herman Haluschenko, described the missile strikes as “another attempt at terrorist revenge” after military and diplomatic setbacks for the Kremlin. He accused Russia of “trying to cause maximum damage to our energy system on the eve of winter.”