No Russian missile attack on Ukraine after country put on high alert

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By Pavel Polityuk

KYIV (Reuters) -No Russian missiles reached Ukraine on Monday after the air force put the country on high alert, reporting that a large number of bombers were taking off from Russian territory for the first time in more than two months.

In anticipation of what the military expected to be a large-scale attack, Ukraine introduced preventative power blackouts and urged people across the country to seek shelter.

“The air alert is related to the launch of cruise missiles from Tu-95MS strategic bombers,” the air force said on its Telegram channels.

But by 0630 GMT the missiles had not arrived. According to some Ukrainian military bloggers, the Russian bombers performed flights imitating the launch of missiles.

Several regions and parts of Kyiv were without power, and social media footage showed masses of people gathering in the city’s metro stations – which have served as bomb shelters since the start of Russia’s war in Ukraine in February 2022.

At 0630 GMT, however, Ukraine was still under air raid alerts.

On Aug. 26, Russia attacked Ukraine with more than 200 drones and missiles, killing seven people and striking energy facilities nationwide, in what Kyiv said was the “most massive attack” of the war.

(Reporting by Pavel Polityuk; Sergiy Karazy and Gleb Garanich and Olena Hermash in Kyiv; Writing by Lidia Kelly in Melbourne; Editing by Sonali Paul and Kim Coghill)