Since the very start of Russia's full-scale invasion, two and a half years ago, it is the power grid in Ukraine that has been the focus of repeated Russian assault. And so it was this morning. Wave after wave of attacks hitting every part of the grid, including substations and major power plants. In large part, the Ukrainian defense has performed well, but this attack shows signs the Russian assaults are getting ever more sophisticated and more accurate. The Russians used a combination of drones and cruise missiles, one them hitting a hydroelectric dam north of the capital Kyiv. If that dam breaks, millions of people downstream would be in danger. At least six people were killed after Russia targeted 15 Ukrainian regions in what is described as the biggest Russian bombardment of the war so far. Let's hear some of President Zelensky's response.

This was one of the largest strikes, a combined one. More than 100 missiles of various types and about 100 Shahed drones. Like most previous Russian strikes, this one is just as vile, targeting critical civilian infrastructure. In most of our regions, from Kharkiv, Oblast, and Kyiv, to Odessa, and our Western regions, unfortunately, there are casualties.

According to the commander of the Ukrainian Air Force, Russia launched 127 missiles of various types. 102 of them were shot down. Of 109 attack drones, 99 were intercepted. Our correspondent in Kyiv is Abdul Jalil Abdulassolow. He has more on today's bombardment.

Well, the Ukrainian Air Force says that they managed to shoot down almost all drones that Russia launched to strike cities across Ukraine. However, they're saying that they failed to intercept 25 missiles, including hypersonic ballastic missiles. Miraculously, the number of people who got killed during these attacks is not high given the scale of what happened today. At least six people have been reported to be killed, but this figure may still increase. The main target of this attack was Ukraine's energy infrastructure. The hydroelectric power plant near Kyiv was damaged, and other energy facilities were targeted by Russian missiles and drones. And it seems that this attack is Moscow's another attempt to disrupt energy supplies in Ukraine ahead of the upcoming winter. Since March, they have targeted and destroyed dozens of energy facilities in Ukraine, including substations, power plants, and so on. And as a result, Ukraine lost about half of its electricity generation capacity. And today's attack will certainly make things worse for Ukraine.

Well, let's get a view on that. We can cross to Kyiv and speak to Elaina Pavlenko, President of Dixie Group. It's a Ukrainian think tank focused on the energy sector. Thank you very much for being with us. Tell us then, what does the power situation look like tonight across Ukraine? How widespread are the blackouts?

Good evening, and thanks a lot for discussion of this situation. So as you already told, there was one of the biggest attacks on Ukraine since the full scale invasion, more than 100 missiles and around 100 drones. All of these attacks were on energy infrastructure, both on generation and transmission, on transformers, on hydro power stations, but also on gas sector, on gas storages. As a result, Kyiv and many other cities were without electricity for quite a long of time. Some cities were without the electricity for several hours. Even now, we have the autages, so some cities do have electricity, some of the cities are without the electricity. The transmission system operator, the Ministry, are working to restore electricity supply, but the situation is still not very stable as of now. How effective the Ukrainians become at restoring the grid and repairing it? Our transmission system operator needs to replace a lot of transformers, which are one of the main targets of Russia, and we have to supply a lot of additional equipment from our international international partners like turbines and any other equipment which can help and replace damaged infrastructure.

So it's the speed of replacement, is it? The speed at which replacements can be found?

There is a different speed of replacement. If you talk about transformers, if we have a spare part, we can do this quite fast. If we talk about turbines, it might take several months to find them, to bring them to Ukraine and to replace.

Well, of course, the cold weather is still some way off. But as Abdujalil was just telling us, half of the power generation capacity has been destroyed, according to the reports from June. So what does that mean for winter in the preparations for winter?

I would say there are three factors which we should look at. One is the temperature in winter. The colder winter is the bigger problems we will have. Then the attacks. The more attacks will be on the energy infrastructure, the more, again, problems and the more serious situation there will be. And as we saw today, Russia is going to target energy infrastructure further. And the third is how fast we can do with the replacement of the equipment, of the damaged equipment. And again, here we need a lot of support from the international partners.

Yeah, but that support is not just about replacing turbines and the kit that is needed for the grid. It's There's also a debate, surely, about how far Ukraine can go in striking at the ability to target the infrastructure. Is the debate tonight turning to how far Ukraine should go into Russia to target the missiles that are coming?

Of course, we have to answer. The more Russia is defending, the less Russia is able to attack us. That's the very obvious answer. We have to defend ourselves by attacking Russia as well. They should understand what does it mean also to stay without electricity, and they should focus on their problems as well with the electricity supply.

In his statement tonight, Prime Minister Shemal said, In order to stop the shelling of the infrastructure, we have to go after the Russian missiles and where they're launched from. That means Ukraine needs long-range weapons and the permission of its partners to hit Russian objects with them. Do you still feel in Ukraine that you're not getting that permission?

Yes, actually, we clearly see that Russia is not going to stop. If we want Russia to stop, we have to make it to do so. To make it to do so, we have to do everything we can, starting from attacking missiles which are located on the Russian territories and finishing with sanctions. We very much expect that the sanctions against Russia increase from the international partners as well. That will help us to finish the war as soon as possible.

Olena Pavlenko, thank you very much for your thoughts this evening. Good to talk to you there in Kyiv. Just a line coming from the British Government, condemning the cowardly Russian strikes on Ukrainian civilian infrastructure.