Russia damages Ukrainian energy facilities with barrage of missiles and drones as blackouts continue
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Russia has launched a barrage of missiles and drones in an attack on Ukraine – damaging energy facilities and injuring at least two people, officials in Kyiv said.
Ukraine has been struggling with waves of rolling blackouts for the past three months amid relentless Russian attacks on its energy infrastructure.
Half of Ukraine’s power generation capacity has been wiped out and the latest bombardment is Russia’s eighth major attack on Ukrainian power plants in a three-month period, the Ukrainian air force said.
Russia launched 16 missiles and 13 Shahed drones – often called kamikaze drones – at energy facilities, Ukraine’s air force added. It said that 12 of the missiles and all of the drones were intercepted by Ukraine’s air defences.
State-owned power grid operator Ukrenergo said equipment at facilities in Ukraine’s southeastern Zaporizhzhia region and western Lviv region were damaged.
A worker speaks to customers in a coffee shop during power cuts in Kyiv earlier this month. Pic: AP
Two workers were injured in Zaporizhzhia when a fire broke out at an energy facility, regional governor Ivan Fedorov said.
At least three people have also been killed in Russian shelling of Ukraine’s second city, Kharkiv, according to its mayor. Ihor Terekhov said on Saturday 19 people were also wounded in an attack which hit a residential area.
An apartment building destroyed by a Russian air strike on Kharkiv on Saturday. Pic: Reuters
Kyiv’s central district during a blackout in early June. Pic: AP
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With no major changes on the 1,000km frontline, both Ukraine and Russia have targeted infrastructure in a bid to curb each other’s ability to fight in the war.
Russia’s attack follows Ukrainian strikes on four oil refineries in southern Russia earlier this week.
The Ukrainian military issued a rare statement confirming it had struck the refineries, while the Russian Ministry of Defence said air defences had destroyed five drones over the Sea of Azov and the western Bryansk and Smolensk regions.
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Ukraine has also launched a “sustained campaign” against Vladimir Putin’s air force earlier this month. It struck a military airfield in Russia and took out two bomber jets, a security source told Sky News.
