Ukraine facing ’massive’ Russian attack on energy sector

Russia launched a widespread attack on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure overnight, forcing the country to implement emergency power outages, Ukrainian authorities said on Friday.

“The enemy continues its terror. Once again, the energy sector across Ukraine is under massive attack,” Ukrainian energy minister German Halushchenko said on his official Facebook page.

The extent of the damage had yet to be clarified, he said, while urging people to remain in shelters.

Streets in the capital Kyiv remained largely empty Friday morning as Ukraine’s air force warned of the threat of ballistic and cruise missiles potentially targeting parts of the country.

Ukrenergo, Ukraine’s energy grid operator, said power facilities in several regions were damaged and it was introducing emergency power outages across the country. Russia has launched 12 “massive” attacks on Ukraine’s power system so far this year, Ukrenergo said.

Moscow’s forces have intensified bombardments of Ukraine in recent months, leaving the country in a precarious position as the war grinds into its third winter.

Last month, Russian President Vladimir Putin threatened to strike Ukraine again with a new nuclear-capable ballistic missile following a widespread attack on critical energy infrastructure that left more than a million households in Ukraine without power.

Russia’s latest assault comes after Moscow vowed on Thursday to respond to a Ukrainian attack on a city in southwest Russia, which Russia claimed involved six US-made ATACMS ballistic missiles.

Ukraine acknowledged making “tangible hits on Russian targets” Wednesday, including military and energy facilities, but has not said what type of missiles were used.

Meanwhile, Russia continues its ground assault on the Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine, advancing in the areas surrounding Kurakhove and Pokrovsk, according to reports from the ground and the Institute for the Study of War (ISW), a Washington-based think tank.

The Russian defense ministry claimed on Friday that it had captured Zarya village, to the south of the key eastern city of Pokrovsk.

Russian forces are just three kilometers (1.9 miles) from the outskirts of Pokrovsk after making advances Wednesday, the Ukrainian mapping service DeepState said earlier this week.

“The losses of the Russian occupiers in the Pokrovsk direction are consistently high, especially in manpower,” Ukraine’s commander-in-chief Oleksandr Syrskyi said Friday. He also acknowledged that “for several months now, the Pokrovsk direction has been one of the most difficult in the context of the confrontation with the Russian occupiers.”