KIEV (Reuters) – More than a dozen Russian-made missiles hit critical infrastructure across Ukraine on Saturday, the Ukrainian Air Force said. Attacks on energy facilities and blackouts have been reported in some areas.
The Ukrainian Air Force Command said 33 missiles were launched in Ukraine on Saturday morning, 18 of which were shot down.
Since October 10, Russia has launched a series of devastating salvoes at Ukraine’s power infrastructure, hitting at least half of its thermal power plants and up to 40% of the total system.
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Shortly after dawn on Saturday, local authorities in regions across Ukraine began reporting strikes and blackouts to energy installations. The governor advised residents to stock up on water in case of a power outage.
Presidential adviser Kirilo Tymoshenko said that as of Saturday afternoon, more than 1 million people were without power across Ukraine, 672,000 of them in the western Khmelnytsky region alone.
After the first wave of missiles arrived early in the morning, air raid sirens again sounded across the country at 11:15 am local time (0815 GMT).
Ukrainian presidential aide Mikhail Podoljak said Moscow hopes the strike will create a new wave of refugees to Europe, while Foreign Minister Dmitro Kuleba said the strike amounted to genocide.
“A deliberate attack on Ukraine’s critical civilian infrastructure is part of Russia’s massacre of Ukrainians,” Kuleba wrote on Twitter.
Moscow has admitted targeting energy infrastructure but denies targeting civilians.
The attack targeted power transmission infrastructure in western Ukraine, while power supply restrictions were in place in 10 regions across the country, including the capital Kyiv, according to state power grid operator Uklenergo.
“The scale of damage could match or exceed the results of the attacks[between October 10 and 12],” Ukrenergo wrote on the Telegram app, following last week’s strike on Ukraine’s power system. referred to the first wave of
Meanwhile, Kyiv city deputy director Petro Panteleev warned that the Russian strike could leave the Ukrainian capital without electricity and heating for “days or weeks.”
“This possibility exists…we need to understand and remember this,” he told Ukrainian outlet Ekonomichna Pravda.
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Reporting by Max Hunder from Kyiv and Valentyn Ogirenko from Mykolaiv.Edited by Kirsten Donovan
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