Ukraine’s KYIV Russia conducted a massive missile and drone attack on Ukraine’s energy industry early Thursday, leaving over 700,000 homes and businesses without power throughout the icy country.
The complicated strike, according to Russian President Vladimir Putin, was a response to Ukraine’s use of American-made ATACMS missiles to launch an attack within Russia. He asserted, without proof, that the attack targeted military locations despite the severe harm to civilians.
Late Wednesday night, air raid sirens started to sound and continued to do so for over nine hours. Along with strollers, pets, and whatever small blankets they could carry, people across sought shelter in bomb shelters, subway stations, and even their own restrooms while they waited out the bombardment.
Targeting the power grid coincides with the onset of cold weather, a strategy that Ukrainian officials and Western observers claim Russia intentionally uses. With fog in the air and snow already coating Kyiv’s roofs, Thursday’s temperature is predicted to remain below 35 degrees Fahrenheit.
The uncertainty surrounding President-elect Donald Trump’s impending inauguration on January 20th adds to the physical misery of these interruptions. At a time when Russia is gaining ground on the battlefield at the quickest rate since the beginning of the 2022 invasion, his hesitancy to publicly endorse Ukraine adds a great deal of uncertainty to the fight.
According to officials, this was Russia’s eleventh assault on Ukraine’s energy industry this year. It was described as a “very vile escalation of Russian terrorist tactics” by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
According to a statement by the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Ukraine claimed to have identified 188 potential attack targets, including 97 Iran-made Shahed drones, 28 Kalibr cruise missiles fired from ships in the Black Sea, and 57 cruise missiles fired from Tupolev Tu-95 bombers.
Herman Halushchenko, Ukraine’s energy minister, posted on social media that the adversary is once more launching a tremendous attack on the country’s electricity system. Energy infrastructure across Ukraine are being attacked.
Cluster munitions were used in the attacks, according to Zelenskyy, which makes it considerably harder for our rescuers and energy workers to remove the impact’s effects.
Putin described the attack during a Russian-led Collective Security Treaty Organization session in Kazakhstan.
“I would like to reiterate that these strikes were in response to persistent attacks on Russian territory by U.S. ATACMS missiles,” he stated. We will always have a reaction, as I have stated numerous times.
Ukraine, he mocked, “nags its masters for other weapons.”
By arguing that Kyiv is protecting not only itself but also all of Europe and the West against Kremlin aggression, Ukraine has made no secret of its desire for additional Western support. Zelenskyy continued appeals for his partners to increase military support after the attack.
According to him, every such incident demonstrates the need for air defense systems in Ukraine, where they save lives, rather than at storage facilities. This is particularly crucial during the winter months when we need to defend our infrastructure against deliberate Russian attacks.
According to the army, almost 100 of these incoming projectiles were destroyed by Ukraine’s current air defenses, but dozens managed to pass through.
Several western areas that are rarely attacked by Russia were the hardest damaged. Governor Maksym Kozytskyi posted on Telegram that as of Thursday morning, 523,000 houses and businesses in the Lviv area were without electricity.
After a transformer substation in the regional capital of Lutsk was damaged, Governor Ivan Rudnytskyi reported that some 215,000 customers in neighboring Volyn were without power. Numerous schools in the Khmelnytskyi, Ivano-Frankivsk, Zhytomyr, and Rivne oblasts reported outages as well, advising students to study at home.
According to officials in Kyiv, anti-aircraft weapons stopped all incoming targets, but falling debris damaged buildings in an industrial region and damaged a truck in the Dniprovskyy and Darnytskyy districts.
In an online article, the Energy Ministry stated that electricity engineers are trying to offer backup power plans whenever feasible. Where the security situation permits, they have already started restoration work.
For comment on the attack, NBC News has reached out to the Russian Ministry of Defense.
It happened just hours after Trump announced that retired Gen. Keith Kellogg would be his special envoy to Russia and Ukraine.
In the past, Kellogg has hinted that he would tie Kyiv’s military assistance from the United States to its involvement in peace negotiations with Russia.
To far, the United States has given Ukraine more military aid than any other nation, totaling around $70 billion. Trump has stated time and time again that he would complete the war before his inauguration, but he has not specified how he will do so.
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