Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Thursday accused Russia of hitting its energy infrastructure with cluster bombs, effectively undermining these sites and complicating repairs, a “despicable” escalation.
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“These cluster munitions make it significantly more difficult for our rescuers and electrical engineers to eliminate the consequences of the strikes, and this is a completely despicable escalation of Russian terrorist tactics,” he said. he underlined on social networks after the massive Russian attack carried out during the night and at dawn.
Cluster munitions are bombs, missiles or rockets that deliver a multitude of other explosive devices, a significant proportion of which do not explode on impact.
This therefore undermines large areas and represents a lasting danger for civilians, emergency services and the maintenance teams of the affected sites.
Russia’s massive attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, like the one carried out on Thursday, prove that Ukraine “needs air defense systems now,” Zelensky insisted.
“This is particularly important in winter, when we have to protect our infrastructure against deliberate attacks by the Russians,” he insisted.
With temperatures hovering around 0°C in a large part of the country, more than a million Ukrainians were without electricity Thursday morning following the Russian attack on energy sites.
Russia has been attacking Ukraine’s energy infrastructure for almost three years, in order to undermine the morale of the population and handicap the logistics of the Ukrainian army, a tactic which has so far come up against the resilience of the Ukrainians and the maintenance teams who repair the damage caused by the bombings.
