KYIV: Ukraine said Friday that it was fending off a new missile attack on its energy system, the latest in Russia’s campaign targeting the war-torn country’s power grid during the winter season.
Russia has escalated its strikes on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, plunging hundreds of thousands into temporary blackouts as temperatures hit zero degrees Celsius (32 degrees Fahrenheit).
“The enemy continues its terror. Once again, the energy sector across Ukraine is under massive attack,“ Energy Minister German Galushchenko said.
The air raid alert had been announced since 7:00 am (0500 GMT) and channels monitoring threats reported missiles over several regions of Ukraine.
Russia has conducted at least 11 large-scale strikes on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure since the beginning of the year, according to official figures.
To manage the power deficit, Ukraine’s energy operator has been implementing hours-long outages.
It announced increased restrictions on Friday following the attack.
Moscow has previously acknowledged striking Ukraine’s energy sites but says they are legitimate targets as they “support the Ukrainian defence industry enterprises”.
Ukrainian officials have repeatedly denounced the attacks on the energy system as attempts to break the population’s morale, and urged allies to send more air defence.
Reacting to the latest strike, Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiga reiterated that call.
“Russia aims to deprive us of energy. Instead, we must deprive it of the means of terror,“ he said on social media.
