GENYA SAVILOV / AFP
Ukraine says it is suffering a “massive attack” on its energy infrastructure amid falling temperatures (Illustrative photo showing a man crossing the street in the deserted town of Pokrovsk in the Donetsk region on October 20, 2024)
UKRAINE – Ukraine reported early this Thursday, November 28, a “massive attack” against its energy infrastructure and says it has had to carry out load shedding, particularly in kyiv, at a time when Moscow is intensifying its military pressure on the country after the election of Donald Trump. In the early morning, hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians found themselves without electricity, authorities announced.
While temperatures are around 0°C, “once again, the energy sector is under massive attack from the enemy”the Ministry of Energy said on Facebook. Emergency power cuts were implemented in particular in kyiv, Odessa and Dnipro, said the operator DTEK.
An air alert was triggered across the country, with the Ukrainian Air Force reporting missile strikes targeting in particular the regions of Odessa (south), Kirovograd (center), Kherson (east). ) and Mykolaiv (south).
A ” answer » when sending ATACMS to Russia
On Tuesday, Russia announced a ” answer “ to two new Ukrainian strikes carried out using American ATACMS missiles against its territory in the preceding days.
Russia has been shelling civilian areas across Ukraine since its invasion of the country began in February 2022 and has stepped up its strikes as winter approaches, particularly targeting energy infrastructure.
For its part, the Russian Ministry of Defense claimed to have destroyed 25 Ukrainian drones overnight over the Bryansk region, close to Belarus, Crimea and the Rostov region (south).
Biden calls for lowering minimum age for military mobilization
On the front, Moscow is making territorial gains against a weakened Ukrainian army, less than two months before the American president-elect takes office.
On Wednesday, the administration of outgoing President Joe Biden called on kyiv to lower the minimum age for military mobilization to 18 years old instead of the current 25 years old to compensate for the lack of soldiers in the face of the advance of Russian forces on the ground.
This call comes as Donald Trump could adopt a new approach and push kyiv to negotiate with Moscow.
Crisis “existential”
A senior official in the current US administration said on condition of anonymity on Wednesday that Ukraine faces a crisis “existential” in recruitment, with a dwindling reserve of volunteers, facing an enemy with more numerous and better equipped forces.
“The truth is that Ukraine is currently not mobilizing and training enough soldiers to replace battlefield losses and maintain itself in the face of growing Russian forces.”he said.
kyiv has already lowered the minimum age for mobilization this year from 27 to 25 years. The White House clarified on Wednesday that American military aid would in no case be conditional on a further reduction.
“We will absolutely continue to send weapons and equipment to Ukraine. We know it's vital. But so are the human numbers”White House spokesperson John Kirby said in a statement.
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