A barrage of Russian missiles and drones hit a Ukrainian thermal power plant and other energy facilities overnight, further stretching Ukraine’s already depleted electricity grid, Ukrainian authorities said.
The targeted attacks in recent months have drastically reduced , with rolling blackouts introduced and power imported from neighboring European Union nations.
“The enemy attacked a number of energy infrastructure facilities,” Ukraine’s Energy Ministry said, adding that the Russian projectiles targeted power infrastructure in four regions, including the capital, Kyiv.
The ministry said the attacks had cut power to more than 218,000 consumers for a period on Thursday morning.
Ukraine’s largest private energy company, DTEK, said the aerial attacks had caused “serious damage” at the plants, and that three of its employees had been wounded.
The company said it was the seventh mass attack on the thermal power plant in the last three months.
“We urgently need to close our skies or Ukraine faces a serious crisis this winter,” DTEK’s CEO Maxim Timchenko said. “My plea to allies is to help us defend our energy system and rebuild in time.”
Ukrainian President says the barrages have halved generation capacity in his country, also urging allies to send more air defense systems.
Ukraine’s state energy operator Ukrenergo on Monday announced further drastic restrictions on electricity supply in the coming weeks due to ongoing Russian attacks on the country’s energy infrastructure. The impact of systematic Russian attacks on thermal and hydroelectric power plants might be made worse by the need for and bad weather conditions.
The post Ukraine updates: Russian ‘mass attack’ hits thermal plant appeared first on Deutsche Welle.