Russia air strikes target Ukraine energy sites as winter deepens

Volodymyr Verbianyi, Bloomberg News on Dec 13, 2024

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Russia launched a massive air-strike against western Ukraine on Friday in what Kyiv described as one of the largest attacks on its power infrastructure since the war started.

Moscow forces fired almost 200 drones and more than 90 missiles, including at least one made by North Korea, 81 of which were intercepted, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Telegram. The attack forced Ukraine to reduce output at five of its nine nuclear reactors, the International Atomic Energy Agency said.

The Russian Defense Ministry said the strike was a response to Kyiv using six US-made ATACMS long-range missiles to hit a military airfield in Russia’s Rostov region on Wednesday.

Moscow’s forces have been attacking Ukraine’s energy infrastructure since the autumn of 2022, or well before Ukraine received long-range missiles, as part of an attempt to cripple the country in its nearly three-year war.

The strike, which happened after days of relative lull in aerial attacks, included hypersonic Kinzhal missiles and focused on the western regions of Ternopil, Lviv, Ivano-Frankivsk and Zakarpattia, according to Ukraine’s air force. Neighboring Poland scrambled fighter jets in response.

The targets for the air assault included thermal power plants of private energy group DTEK, with some equipment “significantly damaged,” the company said on Telegram. Zelenskiy said 11 cruise missiles were downed by F-16 jets Ukraine received from its Western allies.

The attack was the 12th targeting Ukraine’s energy infrastructure this year and has caused widespread blackouts and will lead to longer period of emergency power cutoffs, according to power grid operator Ukrenergo. It came as the temperature plunged across the country with -10C (14F) expected in Kyiv overnight.

Destroy Everything

The assault took place a day after US President-elect Donald Trump said in an interview that he opposes Ukraine’s use of Western-made long-range weapons to strike deep inside Russian territory. Kyiv has fired the missiles at military depots and airfields used by aircraft bombing Ukraine in Russia’s border regions.

“It is one of the largest-scale strikes on our power industry,” Zelenskiy said. “This is such a ‘peace plan’ of Putin — to destroy everything.”

The new wave of tit-for-tat strikes comes amid a surge of US military aid for Kyiv as Western allies fear Trump may seek to scale down support in an attempt to force peace talks. Putin has so far refused to discuss a cease-fire.

Moscow had warned that the use of ATACMS missiles in the latest strike wouldn’t go unanswered. The outgoing US administration of President Joe Biden had said Moscow’s could respond by launching another Oreshnik medium-range intercontinental ballistic missile.

—With assistance from Maxim Edwards.