Ukraine was scrambling to turn lights and heating back on yesterday after Russian attacks targeted energy infrastructure, with the state power provider saying its generating capacity was reduced to “zero.”
Moscow, which has escalated attacks on Ukraine’s infrastructure in the past few months, launched hundreds of drones at energy facilities across the country on Saturday.
Ukrainian strikes on Russia’s own infrastructure meanwhile left more than 20,000 people without power in regions bordering Ukraine, local authorities said.
Photo: AP
The Russian attacks interrupted electricity, heat and water supplies in several cities, with state power firm Centerenergo warning its generating capacity “is down to zero.”
“An unprecedented number of missiles and countless drones — several per minute — targeted the same thermal power plants that we had restored after the devastating attack of 2024,” Centrenergo said in a statement.
Power was cut for between eight and 16 hours a day across most regions of Ukraine yesterday, state power transmission system operator Ukrenergo said, while repairs were carried out and energy sourcing diverted.
Ukrainian Minister of Energy Svitlana Hrynchuk called it “one of the most difficult nights” since Russia sent troops into Ukraine in February 2022.
While the situation had somewhat stabilized, regions including Kyiv, Dnipropetrovsk, Donetsk, Kharkiv, Poltava, Chernihiv and Sumy could continue to see regular power cuts, Hrynchuk said on Saturday evening.
“The enemy inflicted a massive strike with ballistic missiles, which are extremely difficult to shoot down. It is hard to recall such a number of direct strikes on energy facilities since the beginning of the invasion,” she told local broadcaster United News.
Russian drones had targeted two nuclear power substations deep in western Ukraine, Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs Andrii Sybiha said, calling on the UN’s nuclear watchdog to respond.
“Russia is deliberately endangering nuclear safety in Europe. We call for an urgent meeting of the IAEA Board of Governors to respond to these unacceptable risks,” he wrote on Telegram late on Saturday, referring to the International Atomic Energy Agency.
Sybiha also urged China and India — traditionally large buyers of Russian oil — to pressure Moscow to cease its attacks.
Russia has targeted the power and heating grid throughout its almost four-year invasion, destroying a large part of the key civilian infrastructure.
The weekend’s barrage was the ninth massive attack on gas infrastructure since early last month, Ukraine’s energy company Naftogaz said.
Kyiv’s School of Economics estimated in a report that the attacks shut down half of Ukraine’s natural gas production.
Ukraine has in turn stepped up strikes on Russian oil depots and refineries in recent months, seeking to cut off Moscow’s vital energy exports and trigger fuel shortages across the country.