On the night of Thursday, March 21 to Friday, March 22, Russia launched massive attacks against Ukrainian energy infrastructure, causing the death of at least five people, as reported by kyiv authorities. Moscow presented it as revenge for Ukrainian attacks during its presidential elections.
On the night of Thursday to Friday, missiles and drones hit a large dam on the Dnipro River, Kharkiv's energy infrastructure, and some residential buildings.
88 missiles and 63 Shahed drones were fired, of which only 37 and 55 were shot down, respectively, according to the Ukrainian air force.
At least five people were killed in these mass attacks, three in the Zaporozhye region and two in the western Khmelnytskyy region. The attack left more than a million people without power, prompting Ukraine to request emergency power supplies from Poland, Romania and Slovakia.
“The city is completely without electricity and, as a result, water and heating supplies are not working,” Kharkiv Mayor Igor Terekhov said in a video posted on Telegram.
As for the Dnipro dam, “it is not at risk of collapse,” reported the company that manages it. However, it does run a high environmental risk. Pollution was determined when oil derivatives reached the waters of the Dnipro.
“The goal is not just to cause damage, but to try again, like last year, to cause a large-scale failure of the country's energy system,” said Ukrainian Energy Minister German Galushchenko.
According to the head of the Ukrainian state electricity company, this attack was the largest on the Ukrainian energy infrastructure since the beginning of the war.
In Vinnytsia, “critical infrastructure” was also damaged, according to the mayor, Serhi Borzov. The administration of the southern Ukrainian city of Zaporizha also reported eight missile hits.
“The world sees the targets of Russian terrorists as clearly as possible: power plants and energy supply lines, a hydroelectric dam, ordinary residential buildings, even a bus,” declared Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
According to Moscow, the Ukrainian electrical installations are legitimate targets and seek to weaken the kyiv Army. Furthermore, the Russian Defense Ministry said that these attacks were carried out in retaliation for the Ukrainian bombings last week, during the Russian presidential elections.
Tension increases between Russia and the West
The Kremlin officially changed its rhetoric about the war from describing it as a “special military operation” to considering the country in a “state of war.”
“Yes, it started as a special military operation, but as soon as this whole gang was formed, when the collective West participated in all this together with Ukraine, for us it became a war. I am convinced of that, and everyone should understand it “said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov.
In response, European Union Council President Charles Michel said the EU should build its own defense industry.
Possible additional sanctions against Russia
This March 22, Brussels proposed new sanctions against Russia, such as the imposition of “prohibitive” customs duties on Russian and Belarusian agricultural products imported into the EU.
“We have seen these imports increase considerably in 2023. These prohibitive tariffs will make them commercially unviable,” said Trade Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis.
“It will also help put an end to Russia's practice of illegally exporting stolen Ukrainian grain to the EU (…) and dry up an important source of income that allows it to finance its war of aggression” against Ukraine, he added.
Until now, the EU had chosen not to target either the agricultural sector or fertilizers to avoid undermining global food security. To respond to this concern, the European Union clarified that these high customs duties will not apply to the transit through the EU of agricultural products destined for third countries in Africa or the Middle East.
A few days ago, the EU had said it wanted to work on a plan to use the proceeds of Russia's frozen assets to arm Ukraine.
These sanctions were denounced on Friday by the Kremlin.
“If these decisions are implemented, they will have very serious consequences for those who made them,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov warned on Friday, also saying that “European consumers will suffer” if the EU taxes Russian agricultural products.
With EFE and Reuters
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