Ukraine said Russian forces launched a “massive” missile attack on the country's infrastructure on Wednesday, forcing officials to cut emergency power to relieve pressure on the country's battered power grid.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that air defense forces shot down at least 30 of more than 40 missiles targeting Russian gas and energy facilities.
“Another mass attack by Russia. It is already the middle of winter and the target of the Russians remains unchanged: our energy infrastructure. said in the statement from the capital, where temperatures have soared just above freezing on social media.
According to the Ukrainian Air Force, air-, land- and sea-based missiles, including at least one ballistic missile, were launched at the barrage, along with dozens of attack drones. He said Energy facilities in Kharkiv, Lviv and Ivano-Frankivsk regions were damaged, but he stressed that not all missiles that evaded air defense systems hit their targets.
Russia's Defense Ministry has confirmed it is using “precision weapons and strike drones” against critical gas and energy infrastructure. in the statement that “all specified objects have been hit.”
The Russian military has repeatedly targeted Ukraine's energy infrastructure in winter campaigns to wear down the country. Attacks about power plants and substations leaving the country's energy grid on the brink of collapse, experts say.
Air raid sirens wailed in the capital, Kiev, at around 5:45 a.m. Wednesday, as much of the country braced for missile launches. Military defense of Poland crashed fighter jets.
As Ukrainians huddled in shelters for the third hour and the air force warned of incoming cruise missiles, Energy Minister Herman Galushenko announced emergency measures.
“Due to the mass attack, the transmission system operator applies preventive curtailment measures,” Mr. Galushenko wrote in his statement on Facebook.
According to the national electricity operator Ukrenergo, six regions of the country, including Kharkiv in the northeast and Zaporozhye in the south, were briefly forced to cut off electricity.
Two important infrastructure objects were hit in the Lviv region, which is located in the west of Ukraine. according to the head of the provincial military administrationMaksym Kozytskyi. He further said that there are two houses and two outbuildings is also damaged. Facilities in the Ivano-Frankivsk region were also attacked, officials there said.
The attack happened a day after the threat from Moscow take revenge Because Ukraine is said to be the last to use Western-made long-range missiles to strike inside Russia.
Ukraine's energy grid has been so devastated by the strikes that officials have had to look for alternatives – such as leasing floating power plants and removing waste from the region – to reduce pressure on the grid and prevent a crisis.