Five killed in Russian overnight air attack on Ukraine
Lviv, Ukraine - Russia rained missiles and drones on Ukraine in a mass overnight attack, officials said on Sunday, Oct. 5, killing at least five people and damaging infrastructure across numerous regions.
Four deaths were reported in the western region of Lviv bordering Poland, where an industrial park in the regional capital was also set ablaze and parts of the city were left without power.
Lviv mayor Andriy Sadovyi urged residents to stay inside as authorities battled multiple fires. A Reuters correspondent heard explosions booming across the early morning sky as air defences engaged targets from several directions.
In southeastern Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia, one person was killed and nine others wounded in a combined attack that also left more than 73,000 customers without power, said governor Ivan Fedorov.
Civilian infrastructure was also damaged in the regions of Ivano-Frankivsk, Vinnytsia, Chernihiv, Kherson, Kharkiv and Odesa, said Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko.
"Another deliberate act of terror against civilians," she wrote on X. "Moscow continues to strike homes, schools, and energy facilities — proving that destruction remains its only strategy."
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Russian forces had fired more than 50 missiles and nearly 500 drones.
Russia, which has not yet commented on the attack, has stepped up strikes on Ukraine's energy grid in recent weeks as the fourth winter of war approaches.
Poland scrambles jets
NATO member Poland said it scrambled aircraft early on Sunday to ensure its air safety.
"Polish and allied aircraft are operating in our airspace, while ground-based air defence and radar reconnaissance systems have been brought to the highest state of readiness," Poland's operational command said in a post on X.
Eastern-flank NATO members are on high alert after Poland shot down suspected Russian drones in its airspace in September and drone sightings and air incursions, including in Copenhagen and Munich, have led to chaos in European aviation.
Lithuania's airport in Vilnius was closed for several hours overnight after reports of a possible series of balloons heading towards the airport late on Saturday.
According to flight tracking service Flightradar24, early on Sunday, commercial flights were using routings typically used when Poland's Lublin and Rzeszow airports near the border with Ukraine were closed.
Reuters could not independently verify the Flightradar24 report.
There were no immediate notices on the US Federal Aviation Administration's website about possible flight disruptions in Rzeszow and Lublin.
(Reporting by Lidia Kelly in Melbourne, Andriy Perun in Lviv and Dan Peleschuk in Kyiv; Writing by Dan Peleschuk; Editing by Jamie Freed, Lincoln Feast, William Maclean)
