Russia launches comprehensive attack on Ukrainian energy facilities

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russian forces fired a nightly barrage of more than 50 cruise missiles and explosive drones at Ukraine’s power grid on Wednesday, targeting a wide area. President Volodymyr Zelensky called it a “massive” attack on the day the country celebrates the defeat of Nazism in World War II.

The bombing destroyed targets in seven Ukrainian regions, including the Kyiv region and parts of the south and west, and damaged homes and the country’s rail network, authorities said. According to officials, three people were injured, including an eight-year-old girl.

Russia has repeatedly attacked Ukraine’s energy infrastructure throughout the year the war which is now in its third year and has claimed thousands of lives. Through the blackout, Kremlin forces aim to deprive Ukrainian industry of its energy supplies, particularly military facilities, and weaken public morale.

Russian attacks have damaged nearly half of Ukraine’s energy infrastructure since the sweeping Kremlin invasion began in February 2022, officials said. According to the head of the Energy and Housing Committee of the Ukrainian Parliament, Andrii Herus, the damage is estimated at $12.5 billion, with $1 billion caused in the last two weeks.

The mass attacks are also depleting Ukrainian air defense ammunition as Kiev’s depleted forces await delivery of the latest promised load Western military support. Ukrainian officials were Ask for other NATO standard air defense systems such as Patriots.

Zelensky noted that Wednesday’s attacks came on the day Ukraine marks the end of European fighting in World War II, and equated Ukraine’s current fight with that conflict. On the social platform X, he said that “only a united free world” could stop Russian President Vladimir Putin. Ukraine last year changed the date of the Day of Remembrance and Victory over Nazism to avoid coinciding with Russia’s Victory Day commemorations on May 9.

Russia destroyed Ukraine’s energy infrastructure during the “blackout winter” of 2022-23. In March it launched a new wave of attacks, one of which completely destroyed the building Trypilska Power Plant near Kiev, one of the largest in the country.

Russian President Vladimir Putin described the attacks as retaliation for long-range Ukrainian attacks on Russian oil refineries. A Ukrainian attack struck an oil terminal on Wednesday, injuring five workers and causing a fire, Russian-appointed authorities in the partially occupied Luhansk region said.

Russian bombings, while frequent, have become less frequent in recent weeks, and Ukrainian officials suspect Moscow is stockpiling resources Major offensive on the battlefield that could come within a few weeks.

The 1,000-kilometer (600-mile) front line has changed little since the early months of the war, but Russia has recently made small but steady progress in some areas as Ukraine struggles with a shortage of manpower and weapons.

National power grid operator Ukrenergo said plants in the Vinnytsia, Zaporizhzhia, Kirovohrad, Poltava and Ivano-Frankivsk regions were affected.

According to regional governor Maksym Kozytskyi, two energy facilities were hit in the Lviv region, which is in the far west of the country and far from the front lines of fighting.

DTEK, Ukraine’s largest private power utility, said the attack “severely damaged” equipment at three of its thermal power plants.

The attack was the fifth in the past six weeks to target the company’s facilities, DTEK said. In total, the company’s assets have been attacked nearly 180 times since Russia’s full-scale invasion began in February 2022, with 51 workers injured and three killed, it said.

According to the Ukrainian Air Force, Russia fired 55 missiles and 21 Shahed drones overnight. Air defense shot down 39 missiles and 20 drones, said Ukrainian Air Force commander Mykola Oleshchuk.

Russian forces also damaged the station building and train tracks in Kherson, state railway operator Ukrzaliznytsia said.

Also on Wednesday, five people, including three children, were injured in an attack on an educational institution in northeast Kharkiv, regional governor Oleh Syniehubov said on social media. The city’s mayor, Ihor Terekhov, said one of the children was in critical condition.

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