Russian air strikes hit energy plants overnight

At least 100 Russian missiles and drones attacked Ukraine overnight, targeting energy facilities across the country, Ukrainian officials said on Saturday.

Ukrainian power plants have been hit hard by Russian attacks since the start of the large-scale invasion, causing significant damage and energy shortages.

“The enemy fired 53 missiles of various types and 47 attack drones,” an air force spokesman said, adding that it shot down 35 of the missiles and all but one of the drones.

However, two thermal power plants were damaged in the attack, an operator of DTEK (Ukraine’s largest private energy company) told AFP, but he did not disclose where they were located.

“It was another extremely difficult night for the Ukrainian energy sector. The enemy attacked two of our thermal power plants. The equipment was seriously damaged,” the company said in a statement on Telegram.

This is the sixth major attack on DTEK’s thermal power plants since mid-March, it said.

A renovation contractor in Ukraine, who wished to remain anonymous, told the Kyiv Post that if the government does not immediately begin building new thermal power plants, the country could experience massive freezing of urban heating pipes as soon as temperatures drop in November.

“These new thermal power plants cannot simply be delivered and installed,” he said. “It is very complicated. They have to be built from scratch, and immediately.”

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Selenskyj wants more weapons and condemns “provocations” on the Baltic border

Zelensky condemned Russia’s recent hybrid war attacks on the Baltic states, saying: “Russia is preparing provocations in the Baltics. Only together can we stop the madness from Moscow.”

According to Ukrainian Energy Minister Herman Halushchenko, five regions were affected – Donetsk, Dnipropetrovsk, Kirovograd, Ivano-Frankivsk and Zaporizhia.

The ministry warned that power outages were likely as a result of the attacks on Saturday evening.

President Volodymyr Zelensky continued to put pressure on Western partners, saying Moscow was trying to “exploit” the lack of “determination” among Ukraine’s main backers and reiterating his call for more air defense systems.

“Russia’s main goal is to normalize terror and exploit the lack of air defense and resolve of Ukraine’s partners,” he said in a social media post.

“This is a test of humanity and resolve for the free world. Either we pass this test together, or the world will descend into even greater destabilization and chaos,” he added.

He had previously criticized US restrictions on the use of American weapons against targets in the Russian hinterland, where the Kremlin is massing troops for a deadly advance into border towns north of Kharkiv.