Russia attacks Ukrainian energy facilities

A Russian missile and drone attack damaged a Ukrainian power plant and other energy facilities overnight, officials said on Thursday. It is the latest in a series of attacks that have brought the country’s power grid to the brink of collapse.

Targeted air strikes in recent months have crippled Ukraine’s electricity generation capacity, forcing Ukrainian authorities to impose rolling power cuts and import supplies from neighbouring EU countries.

“The enemy attacked a number of energy infrastructure facilities,” the Energy Ministry said, adding that Russian shelling targeted energy-related facilities in four regions, including the capital. However, it did not provide further details.

DTEK, Ukraine’s largest private energy company, said the airstrikes had caused “serious damage” to one of its thermal power plants and that three of its employees were injured in the attack.

“This is the seventh mass attack on the company’s thermal power plant in the last three months,” the company said.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the attacks had halved generator capacity in the war-torn country compared to last year and called on allies to send more air defense systems to protect vital infrastructure.