“We are fighting for our survival against Russia with our hands tied behind our backs,” a Ukrainian lawmaker told Newsweek.
Russian drones and missiles again fell on targets across Ukraine on Thursday night in one of the most-intense bombardments of the two-year war, an attack that President Volodymyr Zelensky described as “terror” bombing.
The attack saw 88 missiles and 63 Shahed drones launched at Ukraine, of which 37 and 55 were shot down, respectively. Strikes and blackouts were reported in Kyiv, Kharkiv, Dnipropetrovsk, Vinnytsya, Khmelnytskiy, Ivano-Frankivsk, Poltava, Odesa, and Lviv regions, as the Russian munitions targeted the country’s energy network.
Among the targets was Ukraine’s largest hydroelectric plant; the DniproHES dam in the southern city of Zaporizhzhia. Its hydraulic structures and the dam itself were hit, according to state hydropower company Ukrhydroenergo, though it said that there was no risk of a breach.
The Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP)—occupied by Russian troops since March 2022 and at constant risk of disaster since—was also impacted. State-owned nuclear power corporation Energoatom reported that a power line connecting the plant to the national grid was severed in the Thursday-night bombardment.
Energoatom head Petro Kotin said: “This situation is extremely dangerous and may result in an emergency. If the last line of communication with the national power grid is disconnected, ZNPP will be in another blackout, which is a serious violation of the conditions for safe operation of the plant.
