Moscow launched a large-scale attack on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure Friday with a mass barrage of 99 drones and missiles hitting regions across the country, Ukraine’s armed forces said. Air raid warnings rang out across the nation, with 10 Ukrainian regions coming under fire, the country’s interior minister, Ihor Klymenko, said.
Quick Read
- Widespread Attacks: Moscow initiated a large-scale offensive against Ukraine’s energy infrastructure with 99 drones and missiles targeting various regions, causing widespread disruptions.
- Regions Affected: Air raid warnings were issued across Ukraine, with 10 regions experiencing attacks, leading to significant damage and casualties.
- Retaliation Tactics: The escalation of Russian attacks appears to be a response to Ukrainian aerial assaults on the Russian border region of Belgorod, continuing the pattern of targeting energy facilities seen in the war.
- Power Outages: Kharkiv experienced major blackouts affecting 700,000 residents due to an attack on the city’s thermal power plant, reflecting Russia’s winter strategy of targeting Ukraine’s energy grid.
- Strategic Targets: Ukrenergo reported that Russia’s recent strikes were aimed at thermal and hydroelectric power plants, particularly in central and western Ukraine.
- Ecological Risks: President Zelenskyy highlighted the ecological dangers posed by attacks on hydroelectric power stations, drawing parallels with the Kakhovka Dam’s destruction and its catastrophic consequences.
- Moldova’s Potential Threat: Zelenskyy warned of the risks extending to Moldova if the dams were compromised, emphasizing the broader regional impact of the attacks.
- DTEK’s Response: Ukraine’s largest private electricity operator, DTEK, announced emergency shutdowns in Odesa due to damage to its thermal power plants, affecting numerous neighborhoods.
- Casualties Reported: The attacks resulted in injuries and fatalities, including a 5-year-old girl in the Dnipropetrovsk region and a 66-year-old woman in Mykolaiv.
- International Reactions: The attacks prompted military responses from neighboring countries, with Poland scrambling its aircraft and Romania investigating drone fragments found near its border with Ukraine.
- Belgorod Under Fire: Russia’s Belgorod region also experienced attacks, with Ukrainian shells downed and drone strikes causing damage to residential areas and resulting in at least one fatality.
The Associated Press has the story:
Russia launches barrage of 99 drones, missiles on Ukraine’s energy system
Newslooks- KYIV, Ukraine (AP) —
Moscow launched a large-scale attack on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure Friday with a mass barrage of 99 drones and missiles hitting regions across the country, Ukraine’s armed forces said. Air raid warnings rang out across the nation, with 10 Ukrainian regions coming under fire, the country’s interior minister, Ihor Klymenko, said.
Russia has escalated its attacks on Ukraine in recent days, launching several missile barrages on the capital, Kyiv, and hitting energy infrastructure across the country in apparent retaliation for recent Ukrainian aerial attacks on the Russian border region of Belgorod. Such sporadic attacks, however, have been common throughout the war.
Large-scale blackouts have already affected Ukraine’s eastern city of Kharkiv, where 700,000 people lost power after the city’s thermal power plant was hit in a drone and missile attack on March 22.
In the winter of 2022-23, Russia targeted Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, causing frequent blackouts. Many in Ukraine and the West expected that Russia might repeat that strategy this winter, but Russia instead initially focused its strikes on Ukraine’s defense industries.
Ukraine’s state-owned grid operator, Ukrenergo, said Friday’s attack deliberately targeted thermal and hydroelectric power plants across central and western regions.
In a statement, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy confirmed that Ukraine’s Kaniv and Dniester hydroelectric power stations had come under attack and accused Moscow of risking an ecological disaster similar to the destruction of the Kakhovka Dam in June 2023.
Both Kyiv and Moscow have accused the other of destroying the dam, but the various Russian allegations — that it was hit by a missile or taken down by explosives — fail to account for a blast so strong that it registered on seismic monitors in the region.
The dam’s destruction led to deadly flooding, endangered crops, threatened drinking water supplies for thousands and unleashed an environmental catastrophe.
Zelenskyy also warned that other countries would be threatened if the dams were hit. Dnister Hydroelectric station, located near the city of Novodnistrovsk, Ukraine, is approximately 15 kilometers (9 miles) from the border with Moldova.
“Not only is Ukraine under threat, but Moldova too,” Zelenskyy said. “The water will not stop in front of the border.”
DTEK, Ukraine’s largest private electricity operator, also said that three of its thermal power plants had been damaged in the attacks. It announced emergency power shutdowns in the city of Odesa, leaving several neighborhoods without power.
Five people, including a 5-year-old girl, were wounded during the attack in Ukraine’s Dnipropetrovsk region, said local Gov. Serhii Lysak.
He later said that another man had been killed and one more injured in a separate drone attack Friday.
Elsewhere, Ukrainian police said rescuers had recovered the body of a 66-year-old woman from a building in the Mykolaiv region that was hit by a Russian missile Thursday night.
The bombardment in the west of Ukraine caused the Polish Armed Forces to scramble its own aircraft, the country’s operational command said on social media.
Last week, Warsaw demanded an explanation from Moscow after one of its missiles strayed briefly into Polish airspace during a major missile attack on Ukraine, prompting the NATO member to activate F-16 fighter jets.
Romania’s defense ministry also said on Friday that an investigation has been launched after fragments that appeared to be from a drone were identified on its territory Thursday evening in an agricultural area of Braila county, close to the border with Ukraine.
It did not provide additional details, although since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of neighboring Ukraine, NATO member Romania has confirmed drone fragments on its territory on several occasions.
Belgorod also came under fire Friday, Russia’s Ministry of Defense wrote on social media. It said that it shot down 15 Ukrainian shells, with falling debris damaging a number of residential buildings. No casualties were reported.
Regional Gov. Vyacheslav Gladkov later said on social media that one man had died as the result of a separate drone attack which struck an apartment block.
