Massive Russian airstrikes pounded Ukraine’s energy infrastructure overnight, further mutilating an already seriously struggling electricity grid, and then hitting high-density residential areas in Kharkiv, the country’s second city, in broad daylight, causing the death of 3 civilians. Attacks that tore a indignant comment to President Volodymyr Zelenskyaccording to which it is time to put an end to this series of terrorist attacks, allowing Ukraine to be able to pre-emptively strike planes and launch sites on Russian territory. “Bold decisions are needed from our partners, so that we can strike Russian terrorists and fighter jets where they are,” the Ukrainian leader saidreferring to the past and present reluctance of many Western allies, including the United States, to supply long-range weapons capable of striking on Russian territory.
The missile and drone raids that targeted the entire country during the night between Friday and Saturday hit power plants and distribution networks in the south, in the Zaporizhzhia region, where among other things the nuclear power plant of the same name occupied by Russian troops is located, and also in the far west, near Lviv. According to the Defense Ministry in Kiev, Moscow has launched at least 16 cruise missiles from the ground, from its ships and planes, as well as 13 kamikaze attack drones, mostly focused on the energy grid, and the air defense forces have they would shoot down all but four. It is, explains Kiev, theeighth combined attack on energy in just three months. “Energy services that feed the arms industry were hit with precision attacks”, and “ammunition depots” and “Western-produced weapons” were also targeted, according to a meager bulletin from the Russian Defense Ministry.
For Moscow, “all the targets have been hit”, in what is explicitly defined as one retaliation for the intense combined drone and missile attack on Kiev the day before, on a previously unseen scale and depth, against energy plants, refineries and airports on Russian territory. The result of the latest Russian attacks is that several people were injured and for many hours over 20 thousand citizens were left in the dark in different regions of the country, according to the Ministry of Energy.
The national company had to communicate that it had to bring forward the time slot in which the blackouts are scheduled by two hours, which therefore begins at 2 pm local time (1 pm Italian time), and no longer at 4 pm, until midnight. of the very serious energy crisis caused by the continuation of systematic Russian heavy bombings over more than two years, which deprived Ukraine of half its energy capacity, according to Zelensky. So much so that the president has put his face on the promotion of solar panels to plug some of the country’s leaks and, above all, allow hospitals and schools to continue operating even during a blackout.
“We urgently need to close our skies or Ukraine will face a serious crisis next winter,” lamented the CEO of Dtek, the main private energy producer. According to data from the Kyiv School of Economics (KSE) recently cited by the Kyiv Independent, as of June 10, Ukraine has suffered, in the 27 months since the Russian invasion on February 24, 2022, direct and indirect damages amounting to 56.2 billion dollars in energy sector alone, including 50.5 billion in estimated expenses for infrastructure reconstruction and 16.1 billion in direct damages. As for the general situation on the ground, on the eastern front the pressure of Russian forces is strong, with small but constant advances and the fighting concentrated above all on the town of Pokrovsk, north-west of Donetsk: the Donbass region where Moscow’s forces they hope to gain as much ground as possible to present themselves in a position of strength at the opening of any future negotiations. Not in the air for the moment.
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