Ukraine’s armed forces reported that Moscow launched a large-scale assault on the country’s energy infrastructure on Friday, hitting regions across the country with 99 drones and missiles.
The country’s interior minister, Ihor Klymenko, stated that air raid warnings were issued across Ukraine as 10 Ukrainian regions came under fire.
In recent days, Russia has increased its attacks on Ukraine, targeting the capital, Kyiv, and hitting energy infrastructure across the country, possibly in response to Ukrainian aerial attacks on the Russian border region of Belgorod. Such attacks, however, have been common throughout the war.
A drone and missile attack on March 22 caused large-scale blackouts in Ukraine’s eastern city of Kharkiv, where the city’s thermal power plant was struck, leaving 700,000 people without power.
During the winter of 2022-23, Russia focused on causing frequent blackouts in Ukraine by targeting its energy infrastructure. Many in Ukraine and the West anticipated a similar strategy this winter, but Russia initially concentrated its strikes on Ukraine’s defense industries.
Ukraine’s state-owned grid operator, Ukrenergo, stated that Friday’s attack deliberately aimed at thermal and hydroelectric power plants across central and western regions.
In a statement, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy confirmed that Ukraine’s Kaniv and Dniester hydroelectric power stations had come under attack, and accused Moscow of risking a disaster similar to the destruction of the Kakhovka Dam in June 2023.
Both Kyiv and Moscow have accused the other of destroying the dam, but the various Russian allegations — that it was hit by a missile or taken down by explosives — fail to explain a blast so powerful that it registered on seismic monitors in the region.
The dam’s destruction led to deadly flooding, endangered crops, threatened drinking water supplies for thousands and unleashed an environmental catastrophe.
Zelenskyy also cautioned that other countries would be at risk if the dams were targeted.
“Not only is Ukraine under threat, but Moldova too,” Zelenskyy said. “The water will not stop in front of the border.”
DTEK, Ukraine’s largest private electricity operator, also announced that three of its thermal power plants had been damaged in the attacks, leading to emergency power shutdowns in the city of Odesa, leaving several neighborhoods without power.
According to local Gov. Serhii Lysak, five people, including a 5-year-old girl, were wounded during the attack in Ukraine’s Dnipropetrovsk region.
He later said that another man had been killed and one more injured in a separate drone attack on Friday.
Elsewhere, Ukrainian police reported the recovery of the body of a 66-year-old woman from a building in the Mykolaiv region that was hit by a Russian missile on Thursday night.
The bombardment in the west of Ukraine prompted the Polish Armed Forces to deploy its own aircraft, as announced by the country’s operational command on social media.
Warsaw asked Moscow for an explanation last week after a missile briefly entered Polish airspace during a major missile attack on Ukraine. This led the NATO member to activate F-16 fighter jets.
Romania’s defense ministry said that an investigation has begun after fragments resembling those from a drone were found on its territory near the border with Ukraine.
Romania, a NATO member, has confirmed finding drone fragments on its land several times since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine began, but did not give more details.
Belgorod was also attacked on Friday, with Russia’s Ministry of Defense announcing on social media that it shot down 15 Ukrainian shells. Falling debris damaged residential buildings, but no casualties were reported.
According to Regional Gov. Vyacheslav Gladkov's social media post, one man died as a result of a separate drone attack on an apartment block.
