Missiles rain down on Ukraine in one of Russia's largest attacks yet

Russia fired more than 70 missiles at Ukraine on Friday in one of its biggest attacks since the start of the war, knocking out power in the second biggest city and forcing Kyiv to bring in emergency blackouts nationwide, Ukrainian officials said.

PUTIN

President Vladimir Putin has sought proposals from his armed forces commanders on how they think Russia's military operation in Ukraine should proceed, according to Russian news agency reports.

CONFLICT

The mayor of Ukraine's capital said early on Saturday the city's metro system was back in service and all residents had been reconnected to water supply a day after the latest wave of Russian air strikes.

Rescuers recovered the body of a one-year-old boy from the rubble of a Russian strike on a residential building in the central Ukrainian city of Kryvyi Rih, the regional governor said on Saturday.

The strike coincided with a wave of missile attacks on critical Ukrainian infrastructure that officials in Kyiv said was one of the largest since Russia invaded on February 24.

Reuters was not able to independently verify the officials' comments. 

Three people were killed when an apartment block was hit on Friday in central Kryvyi Rih and another died in shelling in Kherson in the south, Ukrainian officials said.

The strikes on Friday caused “colossal” damage to infrastructure in the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv and mainly affected the energy system, mayor Ihor Terekhov said.

Ukrainian shelling of a Russian-controlled village in the Luhansk region of eastern Ukraine killed at least 11 people on Friday and 20 were missing, the Russian state news agency TASS reported, citing emergency services.

Moscow says its attacks are aimed at disabling Ukraine's military. Ukrainians call them a war crime.

Reuters was not able to independently verify battlefield reports.

DIPLOMACY/ECONOMY/AID

EU states should buy arms jointly to replenish stocks after supplying Ukraine, said the bloc's defence agency, warning the US may not always be able to shield Europe from threats.

Insurers may refuse to cover planes flying to Ukraine or ships sailing through the Black Sea as reinsurers — who insure the insurers — propose excluding the region from policies from next month, four industry sources said.