RUSSIAN forces unleashed a nighttime barrage of more than 50 cruise missiles and explosive drones at Ukraine’s power grid today, targeting a wide area in what President Volodymyr Zelensky called a “massive” attack.
The bombardment blasted targets in seven Ukrainian regions, including the Kiev area and parts of the south and west, damaging homes and the country’s rail network, authorities said. Three people, including an eight-year-old girl, were injured, according to officials.
Russia and Ukraine have stepped up attacks on each others’ energy infrastructure this year.
By taking out the power, the Kremlin’s forces aim to rob Ukrainian manufacturing of its energy supply, especially military plants, and crush public morale.
The mass barrages also drain Ukrainian air defences of ammunition as Kiev’s depleted forces await delivery of the latest batch of promised Western military support.
Russia pummelled Ukraine’s energy infrastructure during the “blackout winter” of 2022-23.
In March, it launched a new wave of attacks, one of which completely destroyed the Trypilska power plant near Kiev, one of the country’s biggest.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has framed the attacks as retaliation for Ukrainian long-range strikes on Russian oil refineries.
A Ukrainian attack hit an oil terminal today, injuring five workers and starting a fire, Russia-appointed authorities in the partially occupied Lugansk region said.
The US asked Ukraine to halt attacks on Russian oil refineries in March, worrying these might raise oil prices in a US election year, but Kiev has stuck to the policy, keen to demonstrate it can still hit back despite a grim situation on the front line.
Russian bombardments, though frequent, have become less regular in recent weeks, and Ukrainian officials suspect Moscow is stockpiling resources ahead of a major battlefield offensive that could come within weeks.
The 600-mile front line has changed little since the early months of the war, but Russia has recently made small but steady gains in some areas as Ukraine battles with a lack of manpower and a shortage of weapons.
National electrical grid operator Ukrenergo said facilities were hit in the Vinnytsia, Zaporizhzhia, Kirovohrad, Poltava and Ivano-Frankivsk regions.
Two energy facilities were hit in the Lviv region, which is in the country’s far west and distant from the fighting’s front lines, according to regional governor Maksym Kozytskyi.
Dtek, Ukraine’s biggest private energy supplier, said the attack “seriously damaged” equipment at three of its thermal power plants.
