Russia's Defence Ministry said on Sunday that its forces had begun preparations for large-scale strikes on Ukraine's energy infrastructure, framing the move as retaliation for attacks on Russian civilian and energy facilities.
This comes a day after a Russian drone strike on a Kyiv-area ammunition depot killed at least 37 people.
The ministry said Russian forces had also continued coordinated overnight strikes against facilities linked to Ukraine's defence industry, Reuters reported.
The threat came a day after the deadliest Russian strike in the Kyiv region so far this year, when a drone hit a military site storing artillery shells, mines and drones in the village of Myla, in the Bucha district, triggering a massive secondary explosion.
Dozens more were injured and hundreds evacuated, with nearby infrastructure, including a facility for the elderly and people with disabilities, suffering significant damage, according to President Volodymyr Zelensky. Among the dead was the head of a neighbouring village who had rushed to help.
"A terrible situation and terrible negligence," Zelensky said, calling it the second such strike-triggered detonation in two months after a similar incident last month in Vyshneve killed 10 people.
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He said criminal cases had been opened over suspected negligence, with Kyiv's defence ministry ordering a full audit of weapons storage sites.
The strikes formed part of a third straight day of near-continuous Russian air attacks on Kyiv and nine other regions, with officials describing waves of jet-powered drones and high-speed ballistic missiles that Ukraine currently lacks the air defences to intercept.
A 14-year-old girl was killed in a drone strike on Kyiv region's Boryspil district, while a two-year-old girl died in the capital after being struck by a downed drone, according to regional and city officials.
ALSO READ: Russia Air Strike On Kyiv Region Kills 37, Injures 42; Over 380 Evacuated
Earlier strikes this week also damaged residential buildings and retail storage facilities, part of what some Ukrainian officials described as a campaign aimed at paralysing the capital.
Russia's latest warning raises the prospect of renewed strikes on Ukraine's power grid, which has been repeatedly targeted since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022, in a war that has increasingly relied on long-range missile and drone strikes against military, energy and infrastructure targets far from the front lines.
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