On Saturday, Russian forces initiated another series of missile and drone strikes on Ukraine, wreaking havoc on energy facilities in the southeast and west and causing injuries to no fewer than two energy employees. This assault led officials to report an all-time high in energy imports.
Ukrenergo, the national grid operator, reported damage to its infrastructure both in the Zaporizhzhia region of the southeast and Lviv in the west. This incident marks the second major attack of its kind this week.
In the Zaporizhzhia region, two energy workers were harmed and hospitalised. The western country’s gas infrastructure also suffered damage from the Russian onslaught, according to the Ministry of Energy.
Having suffered eight substantial attacks on the power system since March, the energy sector continues to face considerable challenges, stated the Ministry. Following this assault, Ukraine is projected to import a record-breaking 33,559 MWh of energy.
Due to this incident, the government is set to prolong the scheduled electrical blackouts across the nation. The Ukrainian air defence successfully took out 12 of the 16 missiles and all 13 drones launched by Russia, announced the air force. Air raid alerts persisted for several hours into the night across various Ukrainian regions.
Repair teams and firefighters battled infernos in Lviv and Zaporizhzhia and strived to repair power facilities. Maksym Kozytskyi, the regional governor of Lviv, stated that 67 firefighters and 12 special vehicles were tasked with extinguishing fires in his region, which borders Poland.
The city of Ivano-Frankivsk, located in western Ukraine, also suffered damage, with one educational building of an oil and gas university and 14 additional commercial and residential buildings affected, declared the mayor.
Zaporizhzhia regional governor, Ivan Fedorov, cautioned via the Telegram messaging app that: “The enemy will not cease. Ukraine needs air defence systems.”
The Russian government defended its actions and stated that the air raids on Ukraine’s energy facilities were a countermeasure to Ukrainian drone strikes on Russian territory.
Since March, the power system in Ukraine has been under escalated attacks by Russian forces, leading to the decommissioning of almost 50% of the nation’s power generation ability. This has subsequently triggered an extreme energy shortage.
Power supply interruptions to consumers and enterprises are becoming progressively prevalent throughout Ukraine. Despite a reduction in the energy consumption over the summer, in Kyiv – the capital, and in other cities, the noise of privately owned generators is unceasing. – Reuters.