Russia attacked Ukraine’s energy infrastructure overnight with 90 missiles and 100 drones. Currently, more than one million people are without power due to Russia’s severe winter caused by a “massive strike.”
It is the 11th large-scale attack by Russia on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure this year, causing blackouts across the country.
Ukrainian officials have accused Russia of “weaponizing the winter” and stockpiling missiles to launch an air campaign ahead of winter in Ukraine. “His crazy allies, including North Korea, helped him,” Andriy Yermak, the head of Ukraine’s presidential office, wrote in a Telegram post.
At least 5 people were injured, one person in central Vinnytsia, two in Odessa and two in Kiev. Residents took shelter at metro stations as the air raid warning continued for nine hours. As officials reported, about 215,000 homes were temporarily without power.
“Power engineers are working to ensure backup power supply schemes where possible. Where the security situation allows, they have already begun restoration work,” the Energy Ministry said.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has said it is a response to attacks on Ukraine with weapons supplied by Britain and the US.
As Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said, cluster munitions were used exclusively against civilians and energy infrastructure. He described the attack as a “very poor escalation” in the conflict.
“I have a power bank to charge my phone, but I did not buy a more powerful station because I did not take it seriously that such attacks would happen and missiles would reach us. But it reached us,” Valery Doroti , a resident of Lutsk told CNN.
Ivano-Frankivsk resident Roman Turi said, “I expected to be without electricity for three hours, but according to the new schedule, it looks like today we will be without electricity for eight hours.” It is becoming difficult in Ukraine.
Zelensky urged allies to help with air defense systems, saying such attacks prove the systems save lives.
Ukraine’s largest private energy company, DTEK, said its plants have been attacked more than 190 times since the conflict began, according to the BBC.
Speaking about the capabilities of Russian weapons, Putin said, “One cannot forget about the Kalibr systems in our arsenal, the Kinzhal and Tsirkon hypersonic missile systems, which have no analogues in the world in terms of their characteristics.” He said their production was being ramped up and Ukrainian leaders were “begging their masters for other military equipment”.
Putin announced that Russia reserves the right to attack military targets in countries that allow their weapons to be used against Russia.
