Russia intensifies attacks before arrival of F-16s, says kyiv

Ukraine is bracing for more power outages in the coming weeks. kyiv judges that Russia is intensifying its attacks before the arrival of Western military aid… Le Figaro explains to you the situation linked to the conflict in Ukraine this Monday, June 17.

Ukraine prepares for more power cuts in coming weeks

Ukraine announced Monday June 17 that power cuts would worsen until the end of July, after a series of Russian strikes on its energy infrastructure. Moscow has launched a bombing campaign in recent months, targeting Ukraine’s main electricity production and distribution centers and destroying, according to President Volodymyr Zelensky, half of the country’s energy capacity. “In the coming weeks, the situation will be much more difficult than it is today”warned Volodymyr Koudrytskiï, director of the national operator, Ukrenergo.

According to the energy supplier, maintenance work at nuclear power plants, bad weather and insufficient electricity imports will intensify already existing shortages, predicting up to 12 hours of outages per day. Kudrytskii clarified that this “situation will continue until the end of July”.

Russia intensifies attacks before arrival of F-16s, says kyiv

Ukraine ruled on Monday that Russia was intensifying its attacks on the Eastern Front to “maximize troop exhaustion” Ukrainians, before the arrival of Western military aid, notably F-16 fighter planes. “The command of the Russian troops is currently doing everything possible to increase and expand the intensity of hostilities in order to maximize the exhaustion of our troops” announced Oleksandr Syrsky, the head of the Ukrainian army, on his Telegram channel. According to the latter, Moscow is aware that “time will play out” in favor of kyiv, with the receipt of a “significant quantity of weapons and equipment” from its allies, including F-16 planes, supposed to strengthen Ukrainian air defense.

The Ukrainian commander specifies that Russian forces are concentrating their efforts in the vicinity of “Kupiansk, Pokorvsk, Kurakhové and Vremivka”located on the Eastern front, while “fierce fighting” continue to the east and south. The prosecutor of the southern region of Kherson, partially occupied by Moscow, announced Monday that a 50-year-old man had been killed by a “explosive dropped from a drone”.