Russia yesterday again targeted Ukraine's weakened energy infrastructure. As in recent weeks, its missiles and drones targeted power plants in various regions of the country. A day earlier, Russian forces destroyed a major thermal power plant in the Kyiv region. Russian President Vladimir Putin justifies this offensive by Ukrainian drone attacks against Russian refineries. “After the impacts against our energy facilities, it was necessary to respond,” he said.
Since the beginning of March, several refineries in Russian territory were hit by Ukrainian kamikaze drones. On the 12th of that month, a Lukoil refinery was hit in the Nizhny Novgorod Oblast. It was one of the largest gasoline producers in the country, which caused a temporary increase in prices. On the same day, an oil depot caught fire in Oriol Oblast.
Yesterday Russian air defenses intercepted four Ukrainian drones near Novoshakhtinsk, in Rostov Oblast, where an oil refinery that was previously attacked is located. Regional governor Vasily Golubev said there was no damage or casualties.
The Russian tactic is to use high-precision weapons to render Ukraine's electrical infrastructure useless. The Russian Ministry of Defense emphasizes that its attacks are directed only against military and energy facilities of the neighboring country, as well as the infrastructure related to them.
Since the last week of March, attacks have been directed against facilities outside Kyiv province, which are less protected. They then damaged seven thermal stations and two hydroelectric stations, but on Thursday their missiles completely destroyed the Tripilia thermal power plant, the most powerful in the region surrounding the capital.
The coup highlights Ukraine's lack of resources to repel Russian attacks. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky again asked his Western allies for more air defense systems on Thursday.
Ukrainian authorities have not specified the damage caused in these attacks, but fear that it is considerable and cannot be repaired before winter. The DTEK company, Ukraine's largest energy producer, announced that it had lost 80% of its production capacity in the March attacks.
During previous winters, Kyiv accused Moscow of destroying electrical installations to leave the population without electricity and water.
Vladimir Putin seemed to reply to this this week, assuring that last winter no attacks like the current ones were launched for humanitarian reasons. The Kremlin chief said Russia has been forced to respond now because Ukrainian drones had damaged Russian refineries.
“For humanitarian reasons, no blow was inflicted in the winter, we did not want to leave social institutions, hospitals, etc. without power supply, but after the attacks on our energy facilities it was obligatory to respond,” he said on Thursday. after meeting with his Belarusian ally, Alexander Lukashenko. In addition, he added that the attacks against Ukrainian energy facilities are part of the “demilitarization” of Ukraine, one of the objectives he set when on February 24, 2022 he launched the “special military operation” and ordered the army to enter the territory of the neighboring country.
The Russian Defense Ministry assured that, as a result of the attacks, the work of military industry companies was interrupted and the supply of fuel to the Ukrainian armed forces was made difficult.
Yesterday the Ukrainian military reported that several of the country's energy facilities were “in the Russian crosshairs.” Ukrainian defenses destroyed 16 of the 17 Shahed kamikaze drones launched by the Russians.
Ukrainian Southern Command spokeswoman Natalia Gumeniuk said on television that the impact of a downed drone caused a fire at a facility in Dnepropetrovsk province. According to the ZN.UA media, it was a plant in the city of Krivoy Rog.
The electronic Suspilne reported several explosions in Khmelnytskyy. Air alarms were also heard in Vinnitsa, Kropivnitsky, Kharkiv, Mikolaiv, Kherson and Odessa.
