Shafaq News/ In one of the most extensive assaults in recent weeks, Russia launched a widespread missile and drone attack across 15 Ukrainian regions early Monday, killing at least three people.

According to Ukrainian authorities, the barrage began around midnight and continued past daybreak, striking multiple areas of the country.

Among the casualties was 38-year-old former British soldier Ryan Evans, who was killed in a missile strike on the Hotel Sapphire in Kramatorsk on Saturday night. The attack also injured two Reuters journalists. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky condemned the strike as a "deliberate" act by Russia, which resulted in the destruction of the hotel.

Explosions were reported in the northwestern city of Lutsk, where an apartment block was damaged. Local authorities are verifying potential casualties. The Polish armed forces, along with allied aircraft, were activated in response to the attacks, which extended to regions near Ukraine's western border with Poland.

The Ukrainian Air Force detected groups of Russian drones targeting eastern, northern, southern, and central areas, followed by cruise and ballistic missile strikes. Civilian deaths were reported in the central Dnipropetrovsk region, the partially occupied southern Zaporizhzhia region, and Lutsk. An industrial facility in the eastern region of Poltava was also struck, wounding five people, according to the local governor.

Energy infrastructure in the western city of Lviv was targeted, leading to localized power outages in the capital, Kyiv, where air raid sirens and explosions were heard.

Ukraine's largest private energy producer, DTEK, announced emergency power outages following the attacks. Up to 10 drones were reportedly destroyed near Kyiv at around 0230 GMT, according to Serhiy Popko, head of Kyiv's military administration.

Russia has not issued a statement regarding the attacks. Both Russia and Ukraine continue to assert that their military operations are aimed at key infrastructure rather than civilians.