Russian forces launched large-scale aerial bombardments across Ukraine on Thursday, causing power supply problems in Kiev, Kharkiv and Odesa and at the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant, local authorities said Thursday. In addition, at least five people have been killed in the attacks.
Since October, after several military setbacks on the ground, Russia has hit key Ukrainian facilities with missiles and drones, cutting off water and electricity services for millions of people left without heating in the dead of winter.
In kyiv, Mayor Vitali Klitschko reported explosions in the south and west of the Ukrainian capital, which left at least two people injured and requiring hospitalization.
Klitschko first announced an explosion in the southern Holosiivskyi district and then another in Svyatoshynsky, in the west, where vehicles were "on fire in the middle of a residential building."
The mayor wrote that around 15% of the capital's residents were without power due to preventive power outages.
The Zaporizhia nuclear power plant, the largest in Europe, which has been occupied for months by Russian troops, also did not have electricity.
"The last line of communication between the occupied Zaporizhia plant and the Ukrainian power system was cut as a result of a rocket attack," operator Energoatom said in a statement.
The company warned of the risk of an accident at the plant, which currently operates with diesel generators, "if it is not possible to recover external power from the plant."
The country, which has resisted the invasion launched by Moscow in February 2022 for more than a year, woke up on Thursday under massive Russian bombardments that affected the east, south and west of the country.
The authorities assured that air defenses were active in kyiv and in other regions of the former Soviet republic.
In the Kharkov region (east), Governor Oleg Synegubov reported that "the enemy launched about 15 shelling attacks on the city and the region. The occupiers once again attacked critical infrastructure."
"According to preliminary information, a private residential building in the Kharkov region was hit, causing the death of four people," it said. Kharkov's energy facilities had already been hit by Russian attacks since mid-January.
In the Odessa region (south), Governor Maksym Marchneko said that the shelling "hit the region's energy infrastructure and damaged residential buildings" after a "massive missile attack."
Marchneko clarified that "fortunately there were no casualties", although it was necessary to adopt "restrictions on the electricity supply". On his side, a spokesman for the local lifeguards reported two injuries.
The governor of the western Khmelnitsky region, Segiy Gamaliy, urged residents to "stay in shelters" after warning that "the enemy is attacking the country's critical infrastructure."
These attacks come shortly after the 27 European Union (EU) Defense Ministers, meeting in Stockholm with their Ukrainian counterpart, Oleksii Reznikov, negotiated a plan to supply Kiev with missiles and ammunition worth up to 2 billion euros. euros (about 2,100 million dollars).
In mid-February, Moscow launched a "massive" attack with dozens of missiles against power generation plants that left Ukraine without a significant part of its electricity supply.
kyiv later announced that it had recovered enough electricity production to avoid blackouts, after months of restrictions due to constant Russian attacks.
For his part, the head of the Russian Wagner paramilitary group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, announced on Wednesday that he had taken the eastern part of Bakhmut, a small city in eastern Ukraine that has been at the center of fighting for months, despite its disputed strategic value. .
Bakhmut could fall "in the coming days," warned NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, adding that "this does not necessarily reflect a turning point in the war."
For her part, US director of national intelligence Avril Haines said the Russian military is unlikely to make "major territorial gains" in Ukraine this year, appearing to settle for lesser targets.
According to the criteria of The Trust Project
