By Pavel Polityuk and Olena Harmash
KYIV, Feb 26 (Reuters) - Russia fired a barrage of drones and missiles at Ukraine's energy sector and railway infrastructure overnight on Thursday, injuring dozens of people, damaging residential buildings and triggering fires, officials said.
They were the latest of Russia's missile and drone strikes on Ukraine's energy sector in recent months, focused on destroying power plants and substations and plunging entire regions into prolonged blackouts.
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Russia launched 420 drones and 39 missiles, including 11 ballistic ones, to target Ukraine's energy sector and other critical infrastructure.
"Last night, Russia once again waged war on critical infrastructure and ordinary residential buildings," he said on the Telegram messaging app.
"The cold has not yet fully receded, and air defence missiles are needed every single day, while Russia continues its attempts to destroy our energy system."
Ukrainian air defence units shot down 374 drones and 32 missiles, the air force said, but five Russian ballistic missiles and 46 drones hit 32 sites.
Children were among the dozens injured nationwide, with damage reported in eight regions, Zelenskiy said.
The Russian attacks targeted gas facilities in the Poltava region and electricity substations in the Kyiv and Dnipro regions, he said.
Russia also attacked railway infrastructure in the frontline regions of Donetsk, Kharkiv and Zaporizhzhia, a deputy prime minister said.
At least 14 people were injured in the Kharkiv region, including a seven-year old, Kharkiv Governor Oleh Syniehubov, said on Telegram, adding that the city itself had been attacked by two missiles and 17 drones.
Zaporizhzhia Governor Ivan Fedorov said at least 10 people were injured in the overnight attack on the city, when Russian drones damaged 19 apartment buildings.
Fedorov published photographs of smashed shops, houses with holes in the walls, and private homes that had been destroyed.
Two people were injured in the city of Kryvyi Rih, where 10 residential houses, a kindergarten and administrative buildings were damaged, officials said.
Authorities in Kyiv, the capital, said falling debris from downed missiles and drones damaged several buildings in three districts.
(Reporting by Pavel Polityuk, Olena Harmash; Editing by Daniel Flynn and Clarence Fernandez)
