Kyiv:
Russian missiles and drones hit nearly a dozen critical Ukrainian infrastructure facilities in a major airstrike early Wednesday, severely damaging three Soviet-era thermal power plants, Kiev officials said.
The Air Force said it shot down 39 of the 55 missiles and 20 of the 21 attack drones used in the attack, piling more pressure on Ukraine’s beleaguered energy system in more than two years since Russia launched the full-scale invasion. her.
“Another massive attack on our energy industry!” Energy Minister Germanus Galushchenko wrote on the Telegram app.
Two people were injured in the Kyiv region and one was injured in the Kirovohrad region, Interior Minister Ihor Klimenko said.
About 350 rescuers were battling to minimize damage to several energy facilities, 30 homes, public transport vehicles, cars and a fire station, he said.
Power generation and transmission facilities in Poltava, Kirovohrad, Zaporizhzhia, Lviv, Ivano-Frankivsk and Vinnytsia regions were targeted, Galushchenko said.
The strike was the latest in a wave of attacks on critical energy infrastructure that began in March.
The attacks have already forced authorities to impose rolling blackouts in several areas, but their full impact will likely be felt later in the year, when energy consumption peaks in the height of summer and winter.
Except for southeastern Zaporizhzhia, all of these areas are far from the front lines in the east, where heavy fighting is taking place and Russia is gaining ground.
Galushchenko did not name the facilities hit, part of a wartime policy of secrecy that Kiev says is necessary to prevent Russia from using the information for further airstrikes.
Lviv Governor Maksym Kozytskyi said Russia also attacked a natural gas storage facility in his region in the west of the country, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reported.
There was no immediate comment from Moscow. Russia denies targeting civilians, but considers the Ukrainian energy system a legitimate military target.
Memorial Day
The airstrikes came on the day Ukraine celebrates victory over Nazism in World War II, something President Volodymyr Zelenskiy highlighted in a Telegram address alongside the February 2022 invasion.
“The world slept through the revival of Nazism – at 5 am on February 24, 2022. And today, everyone who remembers the Second World War and lived to this day feels deja vu,” he said.
Grid operator Ukrenergo told Telegram that equipment at one of its facilities in central Ukraine was damaged, without giving further details.
In the central region of Poltava, an energy infrastructure facility was hit by a drone, causing a fire, Poltava regional governor Filip Pronin wrote on Telegram.
According to initial information, there were no casualties.
The governors of Vinnytsia and Zaporizhzhia regions said separately that critical urban infrastructure had been damaged, without giving further details.
All missiles aimed at Kiev were destroyed, Serhiy Popko, head of the city’s military administration, told Telegram. He added that there was no significant damage or injuries as a result of the attack.
Air defense systems were also involved in repelling the Russian offensive over the Lviv region, which borders NATO member Poland, where several explosions occurred, regional officials said.
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