Ukraine announced on Wednesday that Russia had bombed more than 100 cities in the past 24 hours, the largest single attack since the start of the year.

Since the start of the war in February 2022, Russian forces have fired millions of artillery shells at Ukrainian cities and villages near the front lines, many of them collapsing in the east of the country.

“Over the past 24 hours, the enemy bombed 118 cities in ten regions,” Ukraine’s Interior Minister Igor Klymenko said in a message on social media.

He added, “This is the largest number of towns and villages under attack since the beginning of the year.”

Also, the Russian attack on the Kremenchuk (Central) oil refinery caused no casualties, and according to Klimenko, more than a hundred firefighters had to be sent to put out the fire.

Ukraine and its Western allies fear that Russia will intensify attacks on the country’s energy infrastructure before winter, as happened last year.

Local authorities said one person was killed in Kharkiv region (northeast) and another in Kherson region (south) in overnight blasts.

A Russian drone attack in Nikopol, in the south of the country, killed one person and injured four others.

Ukraine’s air force announced on Wednesday that it had shot down 18 of 20 Russian drones launched overnight.

For its part, the Russian Defense Ministry announced that it shot down two Ukrainian drones in the Bryansk and Kursk regions bordering Ukraine.