Russia shot down nearly 300 drones and missiles targeting Ukraine's energy sector, Kyiv says
Russia launched a major offensive against Ukraine on Friday, firing 93 missiles and nearly 200 drones, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said, describing it as one of the worst attacks on the country's energy sector since Russia's full-scale invasion nearly three years ago. .
Ukrainian defenses shot down 81 missiles, including 11 intercepted by F-16 fighter jets supplied by Western allies earlier this year, Zelenskyy said. Russia is “threatening millions of people” with such attacks, he said on his Telegram channel, renewing his call for international solidarity against Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“A strong reaction from the world is needed: a big strike – a big reaction. This is the only way to stop fear,” said Zelenskyy.
In Moscow, the Ministry of Defense said that the Russian military used long-range precision missiles and drones on “the most important fuel and energy facilities in Ukraine that ensure the operation of military industries.”
The strike was in retaliation for Wednesday's attack on Ukraine using a US-supplied Army Tactical Missile System, or ATACM, on a Russian airport, it said.
The US Embassy in Kyiv said Friday's attack also targeted transportation hubs and other important facilities.
Ukraine's largest private energy company, DTEK, said the attack had “severely damaged” its thermal power plants.
Ballistic missiles were used
Russia has repeatedly tried to disable Ukraine's electricity system in an attempt to violate the will of citizens left in the dark without running water or heating and to disrupt defense production in Ukraine.
Ukraine's Energy Minister Herman Halushchenko said electricity workers are doing everything necessary to “minimize negative effects on the power system,” promising to release more details on the damage if the security situation allows.
More than a million Ukrainians have been left without electricity, after Russia launched a massive power strike overnight. This is the second major attack on Ukraine's power grid in the past two weeks.
The Ukrainian Air Force said that in addition to drones and cruise missiles, Russia used Kinzhal air-launched missiles against the western regions of Ukraine. A similar large-scale attack on November 28 involved 200 missiles and drones and left more than a million homes without power until emergency teams returned supplies.
Ukrainian officials have warned that Russia is stockpiling cruise and ballistic missiles for further attacks.
On Nov. 21, Russia for the first time used an intermediate-range hypersonic ballistic missile to hit an industrial plant in the city of Dnipro, in eastern Ukraine. US officials warned on Wednesday that Oreshnik could be used again in the coming days, but there was no immediate sign of Friday's attack.
Almost half of Ukraine's energy infrastructure has been destroyed during the war, and intermittent blackouts are common and widespread.
Kyiv's Western allies have provided Ukraine with air defense systems to help it protect critical infrastructure, but Russia has sought to destroy the air defenses with coordinated strikes involving dozens of missiles and drones called “mobs.”
It is near the key city
Russia has taken the initiative this year as its forces continue to attack Ukraine's defenses in the east in a series of slow but sustained offensives.
The Ukrainian military said in recent days that Russian forces had destroyed or captured several Ukrainian positions near Pokrovsk in the east. The city is an important transport hub for the Ukrainian military, and will represent Ukraine's biggest military loss in months.
Control of the city, which Russian media have dubbed the “gateway to Donetsk,” will allow Moscow to significantly disrupt Ukraine's supply lines to the east and intensify its campaign to capture the city of Chasiv Yar, a high-altitude area that provides control. in a wide area.
Narrowing the access of the Ukrainian army to the road network in the area will make it difficult for the forces of Kyiv to hold pockets of the area on the sides of Pokrovsk, which would allow Russia to consolidate and advance further.
The city also has a mine that is Ukraine's only supplier of coal to its once giant steel industry.
Calling the security situation “undoubtedly the worst in my lifetime,” Mark Rutte says NATO members, including Canada, need to spend “a lot more” than two percent of GDP, NATO's long-standing guideline.
Uncertainty surrounds how the war might unfold next year. President-elect Donald Trump, who will take office next month, has vowed to end the war and has questioned whether vital US military support to Kyiv will continue.
The Kremlin on Friday praised Trump's criticism of Ukraine's strikes with US missiles deep into Russian territory and said the position was fully consistent with Moscow's own position.
Trump criticized Ukraine's use of US-supplied missiles to strike deep into Russian territory in an interview with Time magazine published Thursday, comments that suggest he may change US policy toward Ukraine.
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