The latest in a sustained Russian campaign of massive drone and missile attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure brought power outages and restrictions in all the country’s regions on Thursday, officials said, with the Ukrainian Prime Minister describing Moscow’s tactic as “systematic energy terror.”
The strikes, which were the latest in Russia’s almost daily attacks on the Ukrainian power grid as bitter winter temperatures approach, killed at least two people and injured 17, including children between 2 and 16 years of age, according to authorities. Russia launched more than 650 drones and more than 50 missiles of various types in the attack, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said.
Ukrainian cities use centralised public infrastructure to run water, sewage and heating systems, and blackouts stop them from working. Months of attacks have aimed to erode Ukrainian morale as well as disrupt weapons manufacturing and other war-related activity almost four years after Russia’s full-scale invasion of its neighbour.
“Russia continues its systematic energy terror — striking at the lives, dignity, and warmth of Ukrainians on the eve of winter. Its goal is to plunge Ukraine into darkness; ours is to keep the light on,” Ukrainian Prime Minister Yuliia Svyrydenko said. “To stop this terror, Ukraine needs more air defence systems, tougher sanctions, and maximum pressure on (Russia),” she added, referring to fruitless US-led diplomatic efforts to make Russia enter negotiations for a peace settlement.
Strikes in the southern Zaporizhzhia region injured 17 people, including a 2-year-old girl, regional authorities said. Rescuers pulled a man from the rubble of a building, but he did not survive, according to Ivan Fedorov, head of the Zaporizhzhia regional administration.
Two energy infrastructure facilities were damaged in the western Lviv region, near the border with Poland, local authorities said. The Polish military said that it scrambled Polish and allied NATO aircraft as a preventive measure due to the Russian attack on Ukrainian territory. The Polish regional airports in Radom and Lublin were closed to ensure the military freedom of operation, the Polish Air Navigation Services Agency said.
