War in Ukraine: explosions in kyiv, power plants affected… what we know about Russia's massive airstrikes

Already very fragile, the Ukrainian energy network was targeted at dawn this Sunday by a new Russian attack “massive” reported national authorities. These strikes reportedly caused at least two deaths and around ten injuries across the country.

Energy Minister German Galushchenko warned that a “massive attack on the energy system” was underway, with Russian forces attacking “electricity generation and transmission facilities throughout Ukraine”. According to kyiv, Moscow has already destroyed half of Ukraine's energy capacity, by increasing drone and missile attacks.

Power plants hit hard

Reacting to this attack, the Ukrainian energy operator DTEK explained that some of its thermal power plants had been “seriously damaged”without causing any casualties. On the side of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Andriï Sybiga, we denounced what is described as “one of the greatest air attacks” launched by Russia.

According to initial information provided by President Volodymyr Zelensky, 120 missiles and 90 drones were launched. Ukrainian anti-aircraft defense managed to destroy 140 of these targets, according to him. These strikes come at a time when Ukraine fears losing precious American support with the imminent arrival of Donald Trump at the White House, even though it finds itself in difficulty on the front.

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This Sunday, “emergency power cuts” were announced in kyiv and its region, as well as in Donetsk and Dnipropetrovsk, both in the east, according to the operator DTEK. Power was also cut in several parts of Odessa, a large southern port city, according to its mayor. Of the “essential infrastructure” or “energetic” were affected by attacks in the regions of Vinnytsia (central-west), Rivné, Volynié (west) and Zaporizhia (south), reported the various local authorities.

While the extent of the damage remains difficult to estimate at this time, DTEK indicated that this was the eighth large-scale attack against its power plants this year. For Ukraine, regularly faced with major power cuts, the fear of a harsh winter is very present today. It is in this context that kyiv is urging its Western partners to support it in the reconstruction of its electricity network, a project which requires significant investments.

The Polish army, for its part, announced this Sunday that it had taken off fighter planes and mobilized “all available forces and resources” to protect its territory during the nighttime Russian attack in Ukraine. Warsaw puts its armed forces on alert as soon as attacks against this neighboring country are deemed likely to create a danger for its own territory.