This Thursday morning, Russia launched a large-scale missile and drone attack against Ukraine, targeting its energy infrastructure. President Zelensky said several regions had been attacked with cluster munitions.
Russia attacked Ukraine early Thursday morning, launching dozens of missiles and drones across the country, targeting the energy grid and knocking out power to up to a million Ukrainians.
Explosions were reported in many cities, including Kyiv, Kharkiv, Mykolaiv, Odessa, Lutsk and Rivneduring an attack that lasted more than nine hours.
Ukrainian air defense said 176 out of 188 missiles and drones were intercepted. The president Volodymyr Zelensky said Moscow had specifically targeted the country’s energy infrastructure.
He added that several areas had been attacked with cluster munitions.
“These cluster munitions make it more difficult for our rescuers and energy technicians to eliminate the consequences of the attack, and this is a very despicable escalation of Russian terrorist tactics ” said Mr. Zelensky.
The Minister of Energy, Herman Halushchenkodeclared that Russia had carried a “massive blow” to the country’s electricity grid. Ukrenergo, the national electricity grid operator, announced emergency outages in several regions in order to protect the energy system from the Russian onslaught.
Russia has stepped up attacks on Ukraine’s power grid as the country enters its third winter since the war began.
This morning, the Russian president Vladimir Putin claimed that this massive attack was Russia’s response to strikes carried out in recent days by Ukraine using long-range missiles, notably American and British.
Andriy Yermakhead of Ukraine’s presidential office, said Thursday that Russia had deliberately stockpiled weapons, including some from North Korea, in order to launch massive attacks on cities and infrastructure.
“They stockpiled missiles to hit Ukrainian infrastructure, to wage war against civilians during the cold, during the winter”he says.
More than 280,000 households in the region Rivnein the northwest of the country, are currently without electricity due to the attack, said the head of the region, Oleksandr Koval. Water supply is also interrupted in the affected areas. Some schools in the city of Rivne were ordered to study remotely on Thursday.
In the region bordering Volyn215,000 homes are without electricity, according to the head of administration, Ivan Rudnytskyi. All critical infrastructure that was without power was plugged into generators.
Local authorities have also ordered the opening of “invincibility points“, shelters where people can charge their phones and other devices and stay warm during power outages.
Additional sources • PA