Russia launched a “massive” attack on Ukraine’s power grid overnight as it continues to target the country’s energy infrastructure, Ukraine’s energy ministry announced on Telegram.
The latest attack marks the eighth time Russian forces have targeted Ukraine’s power grid since March, the ministry added.
Ukraine’s air force said Russia launched 16 missiles and 13 drones in the attack, which targeted a number of different regions.
While the air force said Ukraine’s air defense systems were able to take down 12 of the missiles and all of the drones, two workers were injured in strikes in Zaporizhzhia in southeastern Ukraine, and some equipment was damaged.
Russian targeting of Ukrainian energy infrastructure has also caused mass blackouts across Ukraine this year.
Russia has switched up its tactics from previous attempts to attack the power grid, aiming to strike energy generation infrastructure instead of electricity substations.
“We urgently need to close our skies or Ukraine faces a serious crisis this winter,” Maxim Timchenko, the CEO of DTEK, a Ukrainian energy company, said following the latest attacks, per the BBC. “My plea to allies is to help us defend our energy system and rebuild in time.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has urged Ukraine’s allies to provide more air defense systems as his forces attempt to repel such attacks, saying they required at least “seven more ‘Patriots’ or similar air defense systems.”
Ivan Fedorov, the governor of Zaporizhzhia, echoed this in a post on Telegram following the latest attack.
“At night, Russians attacked Zaporizhzhia region again,” he wrote. “The enemy will not stop. Ukraine needs air defense systems.”
In April, Business Insider reported that Ukraine’s low stocks of air defense missiles were leaving even the country’s best-protected cities increasingly vulnerable to attack after Russia was able to strike a major power plant near Kyiv.
The New York Times reported earlier this month that the US had agreed to send a second Patriot air defense system to Ukraine, citing two US officials.
Business Insider contacted Ukraine’s energy ministry for comment.
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