KYIV, Ukraine, Oct 22, (AP): Russia launched a wide drone and missile attack across Ukraine on Wednesday, killing at least six people, Ukrainian officials said, a day after US President Donald Trump put his planned meeting with Russian leader Vladimir Putin on hold, saying he didn’t want it to be a "waste of time.” Ukraine’s energy minister said a "massive combined overnight attack” on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure was still underway early Wednesday - the latest in Russia’s effort to cripple the country’s energy system before winter.

At least 18 people were injured in the attack, said Kyiv administration head Tymur Tkachenko The attack caused emergency power blackouts across the country, Ukraine's Energy Ministry said. Repairs were underway where possible and electricity would be restored "as soon as possible,” it said. "Another night that proves Russia does not feel enough pressure for prolonging the war,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a statement.

He said the strike caused damages in the cities of Kyiv and Zaporizhzhia, as well as Odesa, Chernihiv, Dnipropetrovsk, Kirovohrad, Poltava, Vinnytsia, Zaporizhzhia, and the wider regions of Kyiv, Cherkasy, and Sumy. Zelenskyy urged the European Union, the United States and the Group of Seven industrialized nations, or G7, to take steps to sanction Russia.

"It is very important that the world does not remain silent now and that there is a united response to Russia’s treacherous strikes,” he said. Meanwhile, Ukraine’s Army General Staff said the country’s forces struck a chemical plant in Russia’s Bryansk region late on Tuesday night using air-to-surface Storm Shadow missiles. 

The plant is an important part of the Russian military and industrial complex producing gun powder, explosives, missile fuel and ammunition. In the Kyiv region, rescuers discovered the bodies of three people - including two children - after a strike set a private house ablaze in the village of Pohreby, regional governor Mykola Kalashnyk said. According to him, the victims were a woman and her two daughters - an infant of 6 months and a 12-year-old girl. "Their bodies were found at the site of the fire," the governor said. "This is a tragedy for the entire community, for the Kyiv region, and for the country.”