Preventive power cuts in kyiv over fears of Russian air attack

Air alerts were triggered across most of Ukraine on Monday morning due to the takeoff of a large number of Russian bombers, after a series of strikes that left at least six people dead overnight in the south of the country.

Ukraine’s air force placed the country on alert, reporting that large numbers of bombers were taking off from Russian territory for the first time in more than two months. In anticipation of what the military expects to be a large-scale attack, Ukraine has implemented preemptive power cuts and urged people to take shelter across the country.

“The air alert is linked to the launch of cruise missiles by Tu-95MS strategic bombers,” the Air Force said on its Telegram channels. But as of 0630 GMT, the Russian missiles had still not arrived. According to some Ukrainian military bloggers, Russian bombers appear to have carried out flights imitating missile launches.

Several regions and neighborhoods in kyiv were without electricity, and images posted on social media showed masses of people gathering in the city’s metro stations, which have served as fallout shelters since the start of the war between the Russia and Ukraine, in February 2022.

At 0630 GMT, Ukraine was still under air raid alerts. On August 26, Russia attacked Ukraine with more than 200 drones and missiles, killing seven people and striking energy facilities across the country, in what kyiv called the “most massive attack” of the war.

Russian movements in Kursk

On the ground, Russian troops are trying to advance in the Kursk region, Ukraine’s commander-in-chief said Monday, adding that Moscow has accumulated tens of thousands of troops in the region bordering Ukraine.

“In accordance with the orders of their military leaders, they are trying to dislodge our troops and advance deep into the territory we control,” Gen. Oleksandr Syrskyi, the top commander of kyiv’s forces, wrote on the messaging app Telegram.

Ukrainian troops launched an incursion into the Russian border region of Kursk in August, taking control of a number of localities. It was the first such deployment on Russian territory since Moscow launched its all-out invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.