Russian missiles struck electrical installations in central and western Ukraine on Saturday (27), increasing pressure on the struggling power system as the country faces a shortage of air defenses despite an advance in military aid from the U.S.
The airstrike, carried out with ballistic missiles and cruise missiles fired by Russian strategic bombers based in the Arctic Circle, was the fourth large-scale airstrike targeting the power system since March 22.
“The enemy again massively bombed Ukrainian power facilities,” said DTEK, Ukraine’s largest private electricity company, adding that four of its six thermal power plants suffered damage overnight.
Rescue teams worked to put out fires at several energy facilities in the Lviv and Ivano-Frankivsk regions, which border NATO members Poland and Romania, officials said.
Following attacks on energy facilities in the central Dnipropetrovsk region, running water supplies were interrupted in Kryvyi Rih, the hometown of President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, according to authorities.
Ukrainian air defenses shot down 21 of 34 incoming missiles, the Air Force commander said in a statement.
None of the facilities hit were identified by name, a security measure designed to prevent Russia from quickly assessing the impact of its attacks.
Russia, which began its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, denies targeting civilians but says the Ukrainian energy system is a legitimate military target. Ukrainian authorities said an energy worker was injured overnight.
In the northeastern city of Kharkiv, which has been heavily bombed in recent weeks, a missile hit a hospital with 60 patients overnight, injuring a woman and damaging the building, water pipes and nearby power lines, the official said. regional governor.
Ukraine, which has been trying to recover in the battle against Russia in recent months using long-range drones, attacked the Ilsky and Slavyansk oil refineries in Russia’s Krasnodar region overnight, a Ukrainian intelligence source told Reuters.
The drone attack conducted by the SBU security service caused fires at the facility, the source said. Russia’s Kushchevsk military airfield was also attacked in the southern region, the source added.
The Slavyansk oil refinery was forced to suspend some operations after it was damaged in the attack, Russian state news agency TASS reported, citing an executive who oversees the plant.
Ukraine lost 80% of its thermal power generation and 35% of its hydroelectric capacity during the Russian attacks, according to officials.
Although the core of the power system comes from nuclear power, this lost capacity serves a balancing function on the grid and its loss could be a major problem when consumption increases later this year, according to officials.
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