Russia launched a ‘large-scale’ attack on Ukrainian infrastructure

President Volodymyr Zelensky said a “large-scale” Russian missile and drone attack targeted electricity infrastructure across Ukraine.

At least 10 people were killed in airstrikes on the capital Kyiv as well as multiple targets in several areas including Donetsk, Lviv and Odesa.

Ukraine’s largest private energy company, DTEK, said its thermal power plants had suffered “significant damage”, leading to power outages.

The country’s state-owned energy operator, Ukrenergo, said it would enforce “restrictive measures” for all of Ukraine on Monday.

According to local authorities and media, Saturday night’s coordinated attack was the largest since early September.

In total, about 120 missiles and 90 drones were launched, Zelensky said on Telegram.

“Peaceful cities, sleeping civilians” and “critical infrastructure” were targeted, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said.

The Russian Defense Ministry reported that it had struck all targets and said that its attack was aimed at “essential energy infrastructure supporting the Ukrainian military-industrial complex”.

“Russian terrorists once again want to scare us with the cold and lack of light,” President Zelensky said.

Of course, anything that seeks to cut power to weapons factories is bound to harm civilians as well – indirectly, through power outages and frequent water outages, and directly, when Rockets or rocket fragments falling from the sky.

Odesa region governor Oleh Kiper said water and heat supplies were also interrupted, although the latter was gradually being restored. Hospitals and other critical infrastructure are running on generators.

Further east, the city of Mykolaiv was also attacked. The region’s leader, Vitaliy Kim, told the BBC that people there were resilient, despite frequent attacks.

“People are in good shape and want to defend themselves,” he said. We don’t want to lose our homes.”

In Kiev, debris from intercepted missiles and drones fell in several places but there were no reports of injuries.

DTEK said in a statement that this was the eighth large-scale attack on Ukrainian energy facilities this year, adding that its plants have been attacked more than 190 times since then. since Russia began its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Ukrainian officials fear the latest attack could signal another coordinated Russian effort to deplete the power grid as winter approaches.

Having endured two and a half harsh winters since Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022, Ukrainians are preparing for another.

“Here we go again” were the words of an official at one of Ukraine’s private energy companies, summing up the mood across the country on Sunday.

So far, through ingenuity and sheer determination, Ukraine has survived each winter offensive. It is likely to return to service, although its generating capacity is currently only half of what it was in February 2022.

Poland, Ukraine’s western neighbor, has sent fighter jets to patrol its airspace as a security precaution.

The Polish Operational Command said: “Due to a major attack by Russia, which is carrying out attacks with cruise missiles, ballistic missiles and drones against locations located Among other places in western Ukraine, operations by Polish and allied aircraft have begun.”

Hungary, which neighbors both Ukraine and Poland, was also put on alert after drone attacks hit the westernmost Subcarpathian region – about 20km (12 miles) from the Hungarian border. .

The country’s Defense Minister said “the situation is being continuously monitored”.

These latest attacks come as both Ukraine and Russia continue to try to predict how US President-elect Donald Trump will act once his administration takes power in January.

Trump has always said his priority is ending the war and what he describes as a drain on American resources in the form of military aid to Kiev. He hasn’t said how.

The US is the largest arms supplier to Ukraine. According to the Kiel Institute for the World Economy, a German research organization, from the start of the war to the end of June 2024, the country delivered or pledged to send weapons and equipment worth $55.5 billion.

There are concerns in Kiev that they could come under pressure to negotiate an end to the war, which could benefit Russia’s advances – Moscow continues to control a large swath of Ukraine’s territory.

Zelensky says he is sure the war with Russia will “end sooner” than it will be under Trump’s new presidency.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov recently told Russian state media about “positive” signals from the incoming US administration. But Russia has denied that a phone call took place in which Donald Trump is said to have warned the Russian president not to escalate the war.

Yet for all the talk of possible changes when Donald Trump enters the White House, Sunday’s attacks seemed to suggest that, at least for now, the reality The brutality of the war has not changed.

Meanwhile, the leader of Germany – another ally of Ukraine – defended his phone call with Putin on Friday, which Kiev criticized as an attempt at appeasement.

“It’s important to tell him [Putin] that he should not count on the support of Germany, Europe and many other countries around the world for the weakening of Ukraine, but now it is also up to him to ensure that the war ends “, Olaf Scholz said on Sunday.

He added that the Russian President has given no indication that he will change his mind about the war.