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Russia’s army on Thursday launched a massive attack on Ukraine’s energy sector, forcing emergency power outages as temperatures dropped to freezing across the country.
Ukraine’s energy grid has been heavily targeted since Russia invaded in February 2022, with Kyiv accusing Moscow of “terror” tactics by trying to plunge Ukrainian cities into darkness and cut off heating to civilians throughout the winter.
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The overnight strikes come after two weeks of dramatic escalation that has seen both sides launch new weapons to gain an upper hand ahead of Donald Trump being inaugurated as US president in January.
Ukraine’s Energy Minister German Galushchenko said power infrastructure was “under massive enemy attack” after a countrywide air alert was issued for incoming missiles.
The air force reported a string of Russian cruise missiles and attack drones heading for cities across the country, including the capital Kyiv, Kharkiv in the northeast and the Black Sea port city of Odesa.
“Once again, the energy sector is under massive enemy attack. Attacks on energy facilities are taking place across Ukraine,” Galushchenko said.
National power grid operator Ukrenergo had “urgently introduced emergency power cuts”, he added, as temperatures dropped to around 0 degrees Celsius (32 degrees Fahrenheit).
