The Ukrainian Ministry of Energy said that Russian armed forces launched a new “massive attack” on energy infrastructure in western and southern Ukraine in the early hours of Saturday.
“As instalações do Ukrenergo [operador ucraniano]in the regions of Zaporizhia [sul] and Lviv [oeste] were damaged”, said the ministry, noting that two employees were hospitalized in Zaporijia.
This was the eighth massive attack on Ukrainian power plants in the last three months, according to the ministry.
Ukrainian authorities said on Thursday that energy infrastructure, including a power station, was damaged after a strong Russian attack overnight, which left seven employees injured.
According to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Russia destroyed half of Ukraine’s energy capacity by intensifying attacks.
Zelensky called on Thursday for the installation of solar panels and energy storage units “in all schools and hospitals as quickly as possible.”
Operator DTEK’s chief executive Maxime Timtchenko said Ukraine risks being “confronted with a serious crisis this winter” if Western partners do not help.
Kiev has asked its allies for support to rebuild the electricity grid – a project that requires huge investments – and to provide more air defense equipment to combat Russian bombing.
In this context, Washington “made the difficult but necessary decision” to give priority to Ukraine in relation to other allies, with regard to the supply of missiles used in air defense.
