Russia carried out a “massive” missile attack on Ukrainian energy infrastructure during the early hours of Wednesday (8), according to local authorities, in the largest air attack by Russian forces in weeks.
Russia used 76 air attack weapons in the attack, including 55 missiles and 21 drones launched from Russia and Russian-controlled areas, according to Ukrainian Air Force Commander Mykola Oleshchuk. At least 59 weapons were destroyed overnight, he added.
The attacks targeted power generation and transmission facilities in the Ukrainian regions of Poltava, Kirovohrad, Zaporizhzhia, Lviv, Ivano-Frankivsk and Vinnytsia, the country's Energy Minister Herman Halushchenko posted on Telegram.
“The enemy wants to deprive us of the ability to generate and transmit electricity in sufficient quantities. Saving electricity is a contribution of each of us to victory,” said Halushchenko.
At least three people were injured, including a woman and a man with multiple shrapnel wounds who were taken to hospital in the Kiev region, and an 8-year-old child in the Kirovohrad region, local authorities said.
Moscow intensified efforts to cripple Ukraine's energy system last month as Kiev's troops struggle to hold positions on the main front lines, especially in the east.
The five-month wait before the US Congress approved $61 billion in military aid to Kiev may have caused lasting damage that will be felt on the front lines for months to come.
Russian forces took advantage of the “artillery drought” that has hampered Ukraine's defenses since December to advance on the eastern front near Avdiivka, making the biggest advance since the first months of the war, and ahead of a planned Russian offensive at the end of May.
The latest Russian attack hit three thermal power plants run by Ukraine's largest energy company, DTEK. It was the fifth time that its infrastructure was the target of attacks in a month and a half. Ukrainian state grid operator Ukrenergo also reported “damage to generation facilities.”
Two critical energy infrastructure facilities in the Lviv region were attacked, one in Chervonohrad district and another in Stryi district, regional military official Maksym Kozytskyi said.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that “all necessary services are already working to mitigate the consequences of Russian terror.”
“The whole world must understand who is who. The world must not give the new Nazism a chance,” he added in a post on X.
The attacks come as Ukraine marks the Day of Remembrance and Victory over Nazism in World War II on Wednesday.
Source: CNN Brasil
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