Putin is a ‘Nazi,’ says Zelensky as Russia steps up attacks on energy grid ahead of Victory Day – POLITICO

For decades, Moscow’s annual May 9 parade has been less a memorial to the victory over Nazi Germany in World War II than a carefully choreographed show of force. Since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in 2022, the Kremlin has stepped up its attacks on Ukraine ahead of Victory Day to support its propaganda efforts – to give Putin something to brag about in his annual speech in Red Square can.

This year, Russian forces were ordered to capture the strategic city of Khasiv Yar in the Donetsk region before May 9. Although they have not yet succeeded in this task, the Russians have taken advantage of Ukraine’s weapons shortage and troop depletion to quickly gain territory and take control of several small villages in the Donetsk region.

Ukrainian Energy Minister German Galushchenko said Wednesday’s attacks primarily targeted civilian energy infrastructure, targeting power generation and transmission facilities in Poltava, Kirovohrad, Zaporizhzhia, Lviv, Ivano-Frankivsk and Vinnytsia regions.

“The enemy wants to deprive us of the ability to generate and transmit sufficient electricity,” Galushchenko said, calling on Ukrainians to limit energy consumption, especially during morning and evening peak periods. “This is the contribution of each of us to victory. The light will prevail,” the minister added.

DTEK, Ukraine’s largest private energy company, reported that the overnight attacks severely damaged equipment at three of its power plants. “This is the fifth massive shelling of the company’s energy assets in the last month and a half,” the company said in a statement.