Russia launched more than a hundred missiles and drones at energy infrastructure in Ukraine overnight from Friday to Saturday, Ukrainian officials said on Saturday.
According to the Ukrainian Air Force, “the enemy launched 53 missiles of various types and 47 attack drones.” She said she saw 35 of the missiles and 46 of the drones shot down.
In more than two years of war, Russian forces have increased air attacks on Ukrainian energy infrastructure, causing power outages and restrictions as well as significant damage.
During the night’s attack, two thermal power plants were hit, the Ukrainian operator DTEK said on Telegram without specifying their location.
“This has been another extremely difficult night for the energy sector in Ukraine,” adds the company, the largest private investor in the sector in Ukraine. “The enemy hit two of our thermal power plants. The equipment was seriously damaged.”
Since mid-March, this is the sixth major attack on DTEK thermal power plants, the company adds.
Ukrainian Energy Minister German Galushchenko said Russian forces targeted sites in five regions — Donetsk (east), Dnipropetrovsk (central-east), Kirovograd (center), Ivano-Frankivsk (west) and Zaporizhzhia. (South).
The ministry warned that there were likely to be electricity restrictions on Saturday evening due to the strikes.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Moscow was trying to “exploit” a lack of “determination” among Ukraine’s main Western allies and reiterated his call to provide it with more air defense systems.
“Russia’s main goal is to normalize terror, exploit the lack of sufficient air defense and determination of Ukraine’s partners,” he said on social media.
“This is a test of humanity and the resolve of the free world,” he added. “Either we pass this test together, or the world will plunge into… even greater chaos.”
In its daily report, the Russian Defense Ministry claimed to have “carried out a group attack” against “Ukrainian energy installations that support the work of companies in the military-industrial complex”.
The ministry assured that these attacks were carried out “in response to the kyiv regime’s attempts to damage Russian energy and transport facilities.”
The Ukrainian army says it is targeting refineries and military sites on Russian territory in retaliation for daily Russian strikes on its cities and energy network.
Furthermore, the death toll from the Russian strike on the city of Kharkiv on Friday rose to nine deaths, according to the regional governor, Oleg Synegoubov, two bodies having been found in the rubble.