Russia pounded Ukrainian power facilities on Friday in an attack described by Kyiv as the largest airstrike on its energy infrastructure in two years of war, and portrayed by Moscow as revenge for Ukrainian attacks during its presidential election.
The missile and drone attack hit a vast dam over the Dnipro river, killed at least five people and left more than a million others without power, forcing Kyiv to seek emergency electricity supplies from Poland, Romania and Slovakia, Kyiv officials said.
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, speaking in his nightly video address, said the strikes proved again that Russian attacks on infrastructure could be halted only with more air defence systems and that required political will from Ukraine’s allies.
“Russian terror is only possible now because we don’t have enough modern air defence systems which, to be honest, requires enough political will to provide them,” Zelenskiy said.
“All our partners know what is needed and who can make truly life-saving decisions.”
Military aid to Ukraine from Western allies has slowed in recent months, in particular a $60 billion package from Washington, stalled by political disputes in the U.S. Congress.
The strikes, which Kyiv said caused blackouts in seven regions, revived memories of the winter of 2022-23 when Moscow regularly bombed Ukraine’s power grid.
Zelenskiy said repair work had made progress, with the worst outages in Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second largest city, central Dnipropetrovsk region and Ivano-Frankivsk in the west.
The Russian defence ministry said the airstrike was carried out in retaliation for Ukrainian shelling and cross-border raids last week as Russians took part in a stage-managed election that handed President Vladimir Putin a fifth term.
Ukrainian Energy Minister German Galushchenko said: “The goal is not just to damage, but to try again, like last year, to cause a large-scale failure of the country’s energy system.”
Russia denies targeting civilians, although the war that began with its February 2022 invasion of Ukraine has killed thousands of people, uprooted millions and destroyed towns and cities.
“STATE OF WAR”
