RUSSIA struck gas facilities in eastern Ukraine early today, sparking outages in eight regions in another large-scale bombardment to pile pressure on the energy network.
Since invading Ukraine in 2022, Moscow has attacked Ukrainian power infrastructure each winter, forcing Kyiv to impose emergency blackouts and import energy from abroad.
“There are hits and destruction in several regions at once. The operation of a number of critically important facilities has been halted,” the CEO of gas company Naftogaz, Sergii Koretskyi, said in a statement.
The Ukrainian energy grid operator announced emergency power outages in eight regions after today’s strikes.
“This autumn, the Russians use every single day to strike at our energy infrastructure,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said.
Ukraine’s air force said the Russian barrage comprised 320 drones and 37 missiles, adding that 283 drones and five missiles were downed.
It said the attacks mainly targeted the Kharkiv region in the north, and the eastern Poltava region, where the country’s largest private energy provider DTEK said a gas production facility was shut down.
Media reports earlier suggested around 60 percent of Ukrainian gas production had been halted in recent Russian strikes, and attacks on power stations have cut hundreds of thousands of people in the country from electricity.
The Kremlin claims its forces only target military facilities.
The International Criminal Court last year issued arrest warrants for two top Russian army officials over the attacks on Ukraine’s energy facilities, saying they constitute a “war crime” and had inflicted “excessive” harm to civilians.
Kyiv has been appealing to its allies for more air defence systems to protect critical infrastructure and has also launched retaliatory strikes on Russia’s oil refineries.