Russia attacks Ukraine with a massive missile strike, causing power outages in the dead of winter

Kyiv, Ukraine Russia on Wednesday launched a major ballistic and cruise missile attack on areas across the country UkraineOfficials said that this campaign targets energy production and forces the authorities to close the electricity network in some areas despite the freezing winter weather.

The Russian Defense Ministry said it launched a strike on “critically important facilities for the gas and energy infrastructure that ensures the functioning of the military-industrial complex in Ukraine.” It did not mention the targeted locations or other details.

The bombing came a day after the Russian Defense Ministry pledged to respond to what it said was an attack on Russian territory using several missiles supplied by the West. Kiev has not confirmed the attack, though it said on Tuesday it had hit an oil refinery, a fuel storage depot, a chemical plant that produces ammunition and two anti-aircraft missile systems, in a missile and drone attack that reached nearly 700 miles into Russia. .

Long-range attacks have been a feature of the nearly three-year war, as armies on the front line stretching 600 miles from northeastern Ukraine to southern Ukraine have been engaged in a war of attrition. Russia has made progress on the battlefield over the past year, although its progress has been slow and costly.

The Ukrainian Air Force said that Russia attacked Ukraine with 43 missiles and 74 drones overnight. She added that 30 missiles and 47 drones were shot down, and 27 drones failed to reach their target.

The Russian missiles targeted targets extending from the Lviv region in western Ukraine near Poland to Kharkiv in northeastern Ukraine on the border with Russia. State energy company Ukrenergo reported power outages in six regions. Production is often shut down during attacks as a precaution.

“The enemy continues to terrorize Ukrainians,” Energy Minister Herman Haloshenko wrote on Facebook.

Electricity supply to homes had resumed in some areas by midday, but Okrnergo urged customers to avoid using power-hungry electrical appliances.

Russia has repeatedly tried to cripple Ukraine’s electricity grid, depriving the country of heat, electricity and running water in an attempt to break the Ukrainian spirit. The attacks also sought to disrupt Ukraine’s defense manufacturing industry.

Last September, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees reported that Ukraine had lost an estimated 60% of its power generation capacity.

Ukrainian authorities are trying to rebuild power plants after the attack, although the missile barrage has eroded production. Western partners have helped rebuild Ukraine.

“It is the middle of winter, and Russia’s goal has not changed: our energy infrastructure,” Zelensky said via Telegram.

He urged Western partners to accelerate the delivery of promised air defense weapons to Ukraine, stressing that “promises have been made but have not yet been fully fulfilled.”

Poland pledges to advance Ukraine’s bid to join the European Union

In a separate context, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk pledged, on Wednesday, to take advantage of his country’s presidency of the European Union to advance Ukraine’s bid to join the European Union.

“We will break the deadlock we have reached on this issue,” Tusk told reporters in Warsaw, while standing next to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. “We will speed up the joining process.”

Zelensky was in Poland on Wednesday after the two countries reached an agreement on the exhumation of Polish victims of World War II-era massacres by Ukrainian nationalists, which have been a long-standing source of tension between them.