Russia attacks Ukraine energy network in Christmas assault

Bloomberg News on Dec 25, 2024

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Russia launched a large-scale missile attack on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, prompting the country’s grid operator to limit power supplies on Christmas Day.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Telegram Wednesday the assault from Moscow included 70 missiles, some of them ballistic, and more than 100 attack drones. Russia separately said it downed 59 Ukrainian drones overnight over several regions.

Ukraine’s power grid operator, Ukrenergo, restricted electricity as a precautionary measure, according to another Telegram post. Energy Minister German Galushchenko said the step was necessary to “minimize the negative consequences for the energy system.”

In the Kharkiv region in eastern Ukraine, 500,000 people have been left without heat, Deputy Prime Minister Oleksiy Kuleba said, according to RBC Ukraine.

U.S. President Joe Biden called the attack “outrageous,” saying its purpose was to “cut off the Ukrainian people’s access to heat and electricity during winter and to jeopardize the safety of its grid.”

Biden said the U.S. will continue weapons deliveries to Ukraine.

“The Ukrainian people deserve to live in peace and safety, and the United States and the international community must continue to stand with Ukraine until it triumphs over Russia’s aggression,” Biden said.

Russian forces have attacked energy infrastructure throughout Ukraine multiple times since the start of the full-scale invasion in February 2022. The Christmas Day missile barrage followed a Moscow assault five days ago on the Ukraine capital of Kyiv for the first time in almost a month.

The attacks come as both sides await the return to the White House of US President-elect Donald Trump, who has pledged to end the war and suggested Zelenskyy should be “prepared to make a deal.”