(Kyiv) Ukraine was facing damage on Saturday from a new “massive” Russian missile attack on its energy infrastructure, which damaged four thermal power plants and caused power outages, while Kyiv targeted two refineries in Russia with drones.
Russia has carried out several waves of destructive attacks against Ukrainian power plants and the electricity grid in recent weeks, forcing authorities to put in place restrictions on consumption and import power from the EU.
“A new massive missile attack took place today” which targeted “energy sector infrastructure, electricity and gas transit facilities,” President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Saturday.
He once again called on Westerners to deliver additional anti-aircraft systems to his country “as quickly as possible”. “Ukraine needs seven (Patriot) systems – and this is the minimum. The partners have these Patriots,” he said.
According to Ukrainian Energy Minister German Galushchenko, the attack caused “damage” to installations in the regions of Dnipropetrovsk (center-east), Ivano-Frankivsk and Lviv (west). The latter two regions are close to the borders of the European Union and located hundreds of kilometers from the front lines.
According to the Ukrainian army, 21 missiles were shot down out of 34 targeting the country.
“We managed to kill some. But the world has every possibility to help bring down all Russian missiles and drones, Mr. Zelensky said.
Electricity rationing
The Ukrainian private operator DTEK announced that four of its thermal power plants had been “severely damaged” by the nighttime strikes.
The public operator Ukrenergo explained that it had disconnected its main power line in the west of the country as a preventive measure and once again asked all Ukrainian users to limit their electricity consumption.
“The industry is being asked to maximize electricity imports and use alternative sources,” adds Ukrenergo in a press release.
In the western region of Lviv, Governor Maksym Kozytsky called on Telegram for residents to refrain from using equipment that consumes a lot of electricity at the end of the day and early evening.
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk indicated on X that one of the missiles fired by Russia during the night had fallen in Ukraine “15 kilometers” from the Polish border.
PHOTO VYACHESLAV MADIYEVSKYY, REUTERS
Workers clean a kitchen area in a hospital building damaged by a Russian missile strike in Kharkiv on April 27.
Other Russian bombings killed two people and injured 15 others.
One person died and five were injured in the Kharkiv region (north-east). Another was killed and eight injured in a bombing in the Kherson region (south), according to Ukrainian authorities.
Two people were also injured in Kryvyi Rig (center-east).
Refinery on fire
Ukraine, for its part, launched a massive drone attack overnight on the southern Russian region of Krasnodar.
According to a Ukrainian defense source to AFP, drones struck two oil refineries and a military air base in this region located to the east of the Crimean peninsula annexed by Russia in 2014.
“Ukrainian drones struck the atmospheric distillation columns of the Ilsky and Slavyansk refineries,” according to this source, describing them as “key technological installations.”
Russian officials in the Krasnodar region reported a fire at the Slavyansk-on-Kuban refinery. The latter had to stop its activity, Russian state media reported, citing a representative of the operator.
Photos and videos circulating on social media show a large fire raging overnight at the site after a series of explosions.
The Russian Defense Ministry announced earlier on Saturday that 68 Ukrainian drones had been intercepted overnight, including 66 over the Krasnodar region and two others in the Crimean peninsula, annexed in 2014.
In the Russian region of Belgorod, bordering Ukraine and regularly targeted, five people were injured when a Ukrainian drone fell on a road in a village a few kilometers from Ukraine, announced Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov.
Ukraine has repeatedly targeted refineries and oil depots in Russia in recent months. Russian strikes on Ukraine’s power grid are being carried out in retaliation for these attacks, according to Moscow.