Russia launched one of the largest missile and drone attacks of the Ukraine war, on Thursday, while the Ukrainian parliament approved a new controversial mobilization bill.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Thursday that Russia fired more than 40 missiles and 40 drones at Ukraine overnight, again hitting the city of Kharkiv and targeting “critical infrastructure” throughout the country.

Kyiv reported a “massive” attack on the country’s major facilities, but said that so far nobody has been reported killed.

“Overnight, Russia fired more than 40 missiles and 40 drones at Ukraine,” Zelensky said on X.

“Some missiles and ‘Shahed’ drones were successfully shot down. Unfortunately, only a part of them,” he added.

Zelensky said infrastructure facilities were also targeted in Kyiv, the cities of Zaporizhzhia and Odesa in the South and the western city of Lviv, near the Polish border.

Energy Supply Problems

Moscow has heavily attacked Ukraine’s energy facilities over recent months, launching some of its biggest aerial strikes of the two-year war.

Zelensky called on Ukraine’s Western partners not to “turn a blind eye” and to provide more air defense systems.

Ukraine’s Interior Minister Igor Klymenko said hundreds of rescuers had been deployed at sites across the country after “massive shelling.”

The mayor of Kharkiv warned that “problems with energy supply are possible” in the city, Ukraine’s second-largest.

The head of the Lviv region, Maksym Kozytsky, said Russia attacked a gas distribution facility and an electric substation with “cruise missiles of various classes and drones.”

Russia, meanwhile, said it had destroyed 12 Ukrainian drones overnight, including three as far east as the Mordovia Republic.

Others were destroyed over the Kursk, Tambov, Belgorod, Bryansk and Lipetsk regions, it said. Ukraine has been attacking Russia with drones for months.

Controversial Mobilization Bill

Ukrainian lawmakers approved Thursday an army mobilization bill that will not allow long-serving soldiers to be discharged from the army, angering many troops and their families.

“The bill on mobilization was adopted as a whole,” MP Yaroslav Zheleznyak said in a post on Telegram, adding that 283 deputies of the 450-member parliament voted in favor.

This comes as Zelensky arrived in Lithuania for talks with Central and Eastern European leaders on support for his war-torn country.

“The main thing now is to do everything to strengthen our air defense, to meet the urgent needs of the defense forces of Ukraine, as well as to consolidate international support,” Zelensky said on social media.

With AFP