Moscow launched a large-scale attack on Ukraine's energy infrastructure on Friday, with a massive barrage of 99 drones and missiles hitting areas across the country, Ukraine's armed forces said.
Ukrainian Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said that warnings of air raids were echoed throughout the country, with 10 Ukrainian regions under fire.
Russia has escalated its attacks on Ukraine in recent days, firing several missiles at the capital, Kiev, and striking energy infrastructure across the country in apparent retaliation for recent Ukrainian air attacks on the Russian border region of Belgorod. But such sporadic attacks were common throughout the war.
Widespread power outages have already affected the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, where 700,000 people were without power after the city's thermal power plant was attacked by a drone and missile on March 22.
In the winter of 2022-2023, Russia targeted Ukraine's energy infrastructure, causing frequent power outages. Many in Ukraine and the West expected Russia to repeat this strategy this winter, but Russia instead initially focused its strikes on Ukraine's defense industries.
Ukraine's state-owned grid operator, Ukrynergo, said Friday's attack deliberately targeted thermal and hydroelectric power plants in the central and western regions.
In a statement, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed that the Kanev and Dniester hydroelectric power stations in Ukraine were attacked and accused Moscow of risking an environmental disaster similar to the destruction of the Kakhovka Dam in June 2023.
Kiev and Moscow have accused each other of destroying the dam, but the various Russian claims – which say the dam was hit by a missile or destroyed with explosives – do not take into account an explosion so powerful that it was registered on seismographs. In the region.
The destruction of the dam led to deadly floods, endangering crops, threatening the drinking water supply of thousands, and unleashing an environmental disaster.
Zelensky also warned that other countries would be threatened if the dams were hit. The Dniester Hydroelectric Power Station is located near the city of Novodnestrovsk, Ukraine, about 15 kilometers (9 miles) from the border with Moldova.
“Not only Ukraine is under threat, but also Moldova,” Zelensky said. “Water will not stop at the borders”
DTEK, Ukraine's largest private electricity operator, said three of its thermal power plants were damaged in the attacks. It announced an emergency power outage in the city of Odessa, which led to a power outage in several neighborhoods.
Local governor Serhiy Lysak said that five people, including a 5-year-old girl, were injured during the attack that occurred in the Dnipropetrovsk region of Ukraine.
He later said another man was killed and another wounded in a separate drone attack on Friday.
Elsewhere, Ukrainian police said that rescuers recovered the body of a 66-year-old woman from a building in the Mykolaiv region that was hit by a Russian missile on Thursday evening.
The country's operational command said on social media that the bombing in western Ukraine prompted Poland's armed forces to launch their own aircraft.
Last week, Warsaw demanded an explanation from Moscow after one of its missiles briefly entered Polish airspace during a major missile attack on Ukraine, prompting the NATO member state to activate F-16 fighter jets.
The Romanian Ministry of Defense said on Friday that an investigation had been opened after fragments that appeared to be from a drone were found on its territory on Thursday evening in an agricultural area in Braila County, close to the border with Ukraine.
It did not provide additional details, although since the beginning of Russia's large-scale invasion of neighboring Ukraine, NATO member Romania has confirmed the presence of drone fragments on its territory on several occasions.
The Russian Defense Ministry wrote on social media that the city of Belgorod came under fire on Friday. It said it shot down 15 Ukrainian shells, causing fragments to fall and damage a number of residential buildings. No injuries were reported.
Regional Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov later said on social media that a man died as a result of a separate drone attack that struck a residential building.
