Russia launched a massive barrage of missiles and drones targeting Ukraine’s energy infrastructure on Wednesday, hitting a thermal power plant and prompting Ukrainians to take shelter in metro stations on Christmas morning.
The strikes against Ukrainian fuel and energy sources included 78 air, land and sea missiles as well as 106 Shahed and other types of drones, the Ukrainian Air Force said. It claimed to have intercepted 59 missiles and 54 drones, and another 52 drones were jammed.
“(Russian President Vladimir) Putin deliberately chose Christmas for an attack. What could be more inhumane? » Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on X: “They continue to fight for a blackout in Ukraine.”
In Russia, a woman died and three people were injured after debris from a downed drone sparked a fire at a shopping center in the city of Vladikavkaz. The head of the Russian republic of North Ossetia-Alania, Governor Sergey Menyaylo, said security footage showed the explosion took place outside the Alania shopping center on Wednesday morning.
At least one person was killed in the Russian attack on Ukraine’s Dnipro region, Deputy Prime Minister Oleksii Kuleba said on Telegram, adding that heating in 155 residential buildings had been interrupted. He also said that 500,000 people in the Kharkiv region were without heating.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said a Russian missile crossed Moldovan and Romanian airspace.
Energy Minister Herman Halushchenko said Russia is “massively attacking energy infrastructure.” The Ukrainian Air Force said several missiles were fired at the Kharkiv, Dnipro and Poltava regions in the east of the country.
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Halushchenko said the electricity distributor had taken necessary measures to limit consumption. “As soon as the security situation allows, energy workers will establish the damage caused,” he said. State energy operator Ukrenergo implemented preventive power cuts across the country due to a “massive missile attack”, leading to power outages in several districts of the capital, kyiv.
Ukraine’s largest private energy company, DTEK, said Russia struck one of its thermal power plants on Wednesday morning, making it the 13th attack on Ukraine’s power grid this year.
“Denying light and warmth to millions of peace-loving people as they celebrate Christmas is a depraved and evil act that must be responded to,” wrote Maxim Timchenko, CEO of DTEK, on his X account.
At least seven strikes targeted Kharkiv, sparking fires across the city, regional chief Oleh Syniehubov wrote on Telegram. At least three people were injured, according to local authorities.
“Kharkiv is the target of massive missile attacks. A series of explosions rang out in the city and ballistic missiles continue to fly towards the city. Stay in safe places,” said Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov.
The Russian Defense Ministry said in its morning report on Wednesday that it had shot down 59 Ukrainian drones overnight, including over the Belgorod, Voronezh, Kursk, Bryansk and Tambov regions, as well as over the Sea. Azov. He did not mention the incident in North Ossetia-Alania.
Four people were also killed in Ukrainian shelling on the town of Lgov in the Kursk region, regional chief Alexander Khinstein said. Three people died after several apartment buildings and a beauty salon were attacked, he said. Another person died later at a hospital.
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