KYIV, Ukraine -- Ukraine's capital came under one of the biggest attacks of the war Friday as Russia's invading forces fired dozens of missiles across the country, triggering widespread power outages, Ukrainian officials said.
Gunfire from air defense systems and thudding explosions combined with the wail of air-raid sirens as the barrage targeted critical infrastructure in cities including Kyiv, Kharkiv, Kryvyi Rih and Zaporhizhzhia. The head of the Ukrainian armed forces said they intercepted 60 of 76 missiles launched.
"My beautiful sunshine. ... She helped everybody. She gave advice to everybody. How I love you so," wailed Svytlana Andreychuk in the arms of Red Cross staffers. Her sister Olha was one of three people killed when a missile slammed into a four-story apartment building in Kryvyi Rih.
In Kyiv, city council member Ksenia Semenova said 60% of residents were without power Friday evening, and 70% without water. The subway system was out of service and unlikely to be back in operation today, she said.
Russian strikes on electricity and water systems have occurred intermittently since mid-October, increasing the suffering of the population as winter approaches. But the Ukrainian military has reported increasing success in shooting down incoming rockets and explosive drones.
Friday's attacks took place after the United States this week agreed to give a Patriot missile battery to Ukraine to boost the country's defense. Russia's Foreign Ministry warned Thursday that the sophisticated system and any crews accompanying it would be a legitimate target for the Russian military.
The U.S. also pledged last month to send $53 million in energy-related equipment to help Ukraine withstand the attacks on its infrastructure. John Kirby, spokesman for the White House National Security Council, said Friday the first tranche of that aid had arrived in the country.
More than half the Russian missiles fired Friday targeted Ukraine's capital. The city administration said Kyiv withstood "one of the biggest rocket attacks" it has faced since Russia invaded Ukraine nearly 10 months ago. Ukrainian air defense shot down 37 of about 40 missiles that entered the city's airspace, and one person was injured, it said.
Ukraine's air force said Russian forces fired cruise missiles from the Admiral Makarov frigate in the Black Sea, while Kh-22 cruise missiles were fired from long-range Tu-22M3 bombers over the Sea of Azov and tactical aircraft-fired guided missiles.
In Kryvyi Rih, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's hometown in central Ukraine, the apartment building hit by a missile had a gaping hole in its upper floors. Along with the three people killed, at least 13 were taken to the hospital, said Igor Karelin, deputy head of the city's emergency services.
Rescue teams with sniffer dogs searched through the debris for a missing mother and her 18-month-old child.
Also at Kryvyi Rih, nearly 600 miners were stuck underground because of the missile strikes, but were later rescued, Mayor Oleksandr Vilkul said on state TV.
He said "several energy infrastructure facilities were completely destroyed."
STRIKE IS NINTH WAVE
Friday's attack was "the ninth wave of missile strikes on energy facilities," and because of the repeated damage, "the restoration of power supply may take longer than before," state-owned grid operator Ukrenergo wrote on Facebook.
Analysts have said Russian strikes targeting energy infrastructure are part of an attempt to freeze Ukrainians into submission after battlefield losses by Russian forces. Experts say that has only strengthened the resolve of Ukrainians to resist Russia's invasion, while Moscow tries to buy time for a possible offensive in coming months after the current battlefield stalemate.
Kharkiv regional governor Oleh Syniehubov reported three strikes Friday on critical infrastructure in that city, Ukraine's second-largest. By evening, about 55% of the city had its electricity restored.
The southeastern city of Zaporizhzhia and its surrounding region were hit by 21 rockets, city council secretary Anatoly Kurtev said. There were no initial reports of injuries.
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko reported explosions in at least four districts there. Many residents were sheltering deep underground in subway tunnels.
At the site of one attempted strike in Kyiv, military commanders told The Associated Press that the city's territorial defense mobile group had shot down a cruise missile with a machine gun. It wasn't immediately clear whether other Ukrainian fire may have contributed to downing the rocket.
"Almost impossible to hit a missile with a machine gun, but it was done," said a commander who asked to be identified only by the call sign "Hera" for security reasons.
Ukrzaliznytsia, the national railway operator, said power was out in a number of stations in the eastern and central Kharkiv, Kirovohrad, Donetsk and Dnipropetrovsk regions. But trains continued to run after electric power was switched to backup, steam-engine power.
In neighboring Moldova, the state-owned energy company reported disruptions to its electricity network and warned of a "high risk" of power outages. Moldova -- whose Soviet-era systems remain interconnected with Ukraine's -- has already suffered two massive blackouts in recent months as Russia attacked Ukraine's energy grid.
The previous such round of large Russian air strikes across Ukraine took place Dec. 5.
"Grateful for the work of Ukraine's air defense amid more escalatory Russian attacks this morning on civilian infrastructure in Kyiv and around the country," the U.S. ambassador in Kyiv, Bridget Brink, wrote on Twitter.
SANCTIONS TARGET MILITARY INDUSTRIES
The European Union said Friday its latest round of sanctions will hit Russia's military-industrial complex, as well as people and groups that are attacking Ukrainian civilians or kidnapping children.
Valdis Dombrovskis, a European Commission vice-president, said the package will deal a blow to 168 "entities" -- companies or state organizations -- linked to the arms industry.
"This will ensure that key chemicals, nerve agents, night-vision and radio-navigation equipment, electronics and IT [information technology] components that could be used by the Russian war machine cannot be freely traded," said the European Council, which represents member states.
"To avoid circumvention, some Russian-controlled entities based in illegally annexed Crimea or Sevastopol are also included in the list," it added in a statement.
The ninth package of EU punitive measures against Russia for its war in Ukraine was approved by EU leaders at a summit Thursday. It was formally adopted Friday by written procedure.
"After food and hunger, [Russia President Vladimir] Putin is now weaponizing the winter, by deliberately depriving millions of Ukrainians of water, electricity and heating," said Josep Borrell, the bloc's top diplomat. "We will continue targeting the economy and against those who are instrumental in this brutal war."
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the package will "push the Russian economy and war machine further off the rails."
Von der Leyen added that the new sanctions target "almost 200 individuals and entities involved in attacks on civilians and kidnapping children." Russia's open effort to adopt Ukrainian children and bring them up as Russian is already well underway, in one of the most explosive issues of the war, an Associated Press investigation has showed.
Full details of the package will be revealed once sanctions are published in the bloc's legal records.
The bloc will also expand the export ban on aviation and space industry-related goods and technology to include aircraft engines and their parts, with the measure applying to both manned and unmanned aircraft.
"Meaning that from now on there will be a ban on the direct exports of drone engines to Russia and any third country that could supply drones to Russia," the European Council said.
In addition, an assets freeze will be imposed on two additional Russian banks, while the Russian Regional Development Bank will be added to the list of Russian state-owned or state-controlled entities that are subject to a full transaction ban.
Four additional media outlets perceived as propaganda tools used to destabilize the EU -- NTV/NTV Mir, Rossiya 1, REN TV and Pervyi Kanal -- will have their broadcasting licenses suspended, the council said.
In the energy sector, the EU said it will prohibit new investments in Russian mining, with the exception of mining and quarrying activities involving certain critical raw materials.
Despite the initial reluctance of some member countries who thought the move would create loopholes in the sanctions net, the EU also decided to introduce derogations for some individuals and companies under sanctions to facilitate the transport of wheat and fertilizers between Russia and third countries.
The European Council said this was "to avoid and combat food insecurity around the world, and in order to avoid disruptions in the payment channels for agricultural products."
As well as sanctions on various entities, banks and individuals, including Putin and members of his family, the EU has previously approved an embargo on coal and seaborne oil imports, in close concert with Western allies.
Information for this article was contributed by Hanna Arhirova, Vasilisa Stepanenko, Jamey Keaten and Samuel Petrequin of The Associated Press.
People rest in a subway station, being used as a bomb shelter during a rocket attack in Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, Dec. 16, 2022. Ukrainian authorities reported explosions in at least three cities Friday, saying Russia has launched a major missile attack on energy facilities and infrastructure. Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko reported explosions in at least four districts, urging residents to go to shelters. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)
A woman cries in front of the building which was destroyed by a Russian attack in Kryvyi Rih, Ukraine, Friday, Dec. 16, 2022. Russian forces launched at least 60 missiles across Ukraine on Friday, officials said, reporting explosions in at least four cities, including Kyiv. At least two people were killed by a strike on a residential building in central Ukraine, where a hunt was on for survivors. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)
Debris of an apartment building damaged in a Russian rocket attack in Kryvyi Rih, Ukraine, Friday, Dec. 16, 2022. Russian forces launched at least 60 missile strikes across Ukraine on Friday, officials said, reporting explosions in at least four cities. At least two people were killed when a residential building was hit in central Ukraine, while electricity and water services were interrupted in the two largest cities, Kyiv and Kharkiv. (Ukrainian Emergency Service via AP Photo)
Ukrainian State Emergency Service firefighters work to extinguish a fire at the building which was destroyed by a Russian attack in Kryvyi Rih, Ukraine, Friday, Dec. 16, 2022. Russian forces launched at least 60 missiles across Ukraine on Friday, officials said, reporting explosions in at least four cities, including Kyiv. At least two people were killed by a strike on a residential building in central Ukraine, where a hunt was on for survivors. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)
People rest in a subway station, being used as a bomb shelter during a rocket attack in Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, Dec. 16, 2022. Ukrainian authorities reported explosions in at least three cities Friday, saying Russia has launched a major missile attack on energy facilities and infrastructure. Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko reported explosions in at least four districts, urging residents to go to shelters. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)
A hole from a shell explosion in the damaged dome of an Orthodox church is seen after what Russian officials in Donetsk said was a shelling by Ukrainian forces, in Donetsk, the capital of Russian-controlled Donetsk region, eastern Ukraine, Thursday, Dec. 15, 2022. (AP Photo)
Ukrainian State Emergency Service firefighters work at the building which was destroyed by a Russian attack in Kryvyi Rih, Ukraine, Friday, Dec. 16, 2022. Russian forces launched at least 60 missiles across Ukraine on Friday, officials said, reporting explosions in at least four cities, including Kyiv. At least two people were killed by a strike on a residential building in central Ukraine, where a hunt was on for survivors. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)
A machine gun sits on the side of a road after a Russian attack in Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, Dec. 16, 2022. Ukrainian authorities reported explosions in at least three cities Friday, saying Russia has launched a major missile attack on energy facilities and infrastructure. Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko reported explosions in at least four districts, urging residents to go to shelters. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana)
The remains of a rocket that was allegedly shot down after a Russian attack lay on the side of a road in Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, Dec. 16, 2022. Ukrainian authorities reported explosions in at least three cities Friday, saying Russia has launched a major missile attack on energy facilities and infrastructure. Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko reported explosions in at least four districts, urging residents to go to shelters. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana)