(Bloomberg) — Russia destroyed and damaged Ukrainian energy facilities overnight President Vladimir PutinThe country’s forces continue to attack to disrupt the country’s power system.
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Russia targeted the central regions of Dnipropetrovsk and Vinnytsia, as well as the Kiev region and part of the Donetsk region in the east, the Energy Ministry said in a message on Telegram on Thursday morning. The ministry did not specify which infrastructure was affected.
DTEK, the country’s largest power producer, said three workers were injured in the barrage, which caused serious damage to one of its thermal power plants. This was the seventh attack on the company’s power plants in the past three months, DTEK said on Telegram.
The destruction took place as Ukraine downed all 27 explosive-laden Shahed drones and five of nine missiles launched by Russia overnight, air force commander Mykola Oleshchuk said.
Ukraine’s air defenses have failed to intercept Iskander-M ballistic missiles fired from Russia’s Voronezh region. This underlines the country’s vulnerability to these types of weapons, as there are too few advanced air defense systems, donated by Kiev’s Western allies, to cover the country’s entire territory.
Russia’s brutal bombing of Ukraine’s energy system this year has caused rolling blackouts and left authorities racing against time to repair infrastructure before winter, when electricity demand is highest.
President Putin has so far shown no intention of engaging with the Ukrainian peace plan, signing a military aid treaty with North Korea and touring Vietnam in response to US criticism.
Russia said the Ukrainian military also launched drone strikes on its territory overnight. The Ministry of Defense in Moscow reported that nine drones were downed over the southern regions of Adygeya and Krasnodar. A woman died when a drone fell on a house in Slavyansk-na-Kubani, a city in the Krasnodar region, the local governor said on Telegram. Some drones were downed over the Belgorod, Rostov and Oryol regions, the ministry said.
The drone strike caused a fire at a fuel depot in Adygeya, regional governor Murat Kumpilov said on Telegram. Tambov Governor Maksim Yegorov said a suspected drone strike set fire to a fuel reservoir in the region. Ukraine has made no public statement on whether it launched the attacks.
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