Russia Destroys One of Ukraine’s Largest Power Plants

Moscow has stepped up strikes on Ukraine's energy infrastructure in response to Ukrainian attacks on Russian oil refineries

Russia launched massive missile and drone attacks on Ukrainian energy infrastructure on Thursday morning and destroyed one of Ukraine’s largest power plants in the Kyiv region.

The Russian Defense Ministry said the bombardment was in response to Ukrainian attacks on oil refineries and other energy infrastructure inside Russian territory. Ukraine has been stepping up attacks inside Russia as it has become clear there’s no hope for victory on the battlefield, and Ukrainian lines are at risk of collapsing.

“The Russian Armed Forces delivered a massive strike last night by air-launched and seaborne long-range precision weapons and unmanned aerial vehicles against Ukrainian fuel and energy facilities. The goal of the strike were achieved. All the targets were destroyed,” the Russian Defense Ministry said, according to TASS.

Map from SouthFront that shows where Russian strikes hit across Ukraine (click to enlarge)

Ukrainian Energy Minister Herman Halushchenko described the strikes as a “large scale, enormous, missile attack that affected our energy sector very badly.”

According to The Associated Press, the Trypilska plant that was destroyed in the Kyiv region supplied power to 3 million customers, but none of them lost power because the grid was able to compensate for it since energy demands are lower this time of year, but the loss of the plant will be felt later in the year.

In Kharkiv, Ukrainian officials said 200,000 people lost power after a series of Russian strikes on energy infrastructure.

Author: Dave DeCamp

Dave DeCamp is the news editor of Antiwar.com, follow him on Twitter @decampdave.