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Russian drone strikes target nuclear power plants, killing seven, Ukraine says
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Russian drone strikes target nuclear power plants, killing seven, Ukraine says

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Russia launched a barrage of drones and missiles in overnight attacks on Ukraine, targeting substations that power two nuclear power plants and killing seven people, Ukrainian officials said.
“Russia again targeted the substations that supply power to the Khmelnytskyi and Rivne nuclear power plants,” Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said on X.
“These were not accidental, but well-planned attacks. Russia is deliberately endangering nuclear security in Europe.”
President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Saturday (local time) that Russia has launched more than 450 drones and 45 missiles.

Three people were killed and twelve were injured in the city of Dnipro when a drone hit an apartment building. Three were killed in the southeastern region of Zaporizhia and one in the Kharkov region further north, regional officials said.

Energy facilities in the Kiev, Poltava and Kharkiv regions have been damaged, leaving thousands of people without power and water, Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko said. Officials in Poltava said power generators were being used to provide water.

The Russian Defense Ministry said earlier on Saturday that it had launched “a massive attack with highly precise long-range weapons in the air, on the ground and at sea” on weapons production and gas and energy facilities in response to Kiev’s attacks on Russia.

The minister says that the electricity grid has been stabilized

Energy Minister Svitlana Hrynchuk said emergency services had stabilized the electricity grid, but warned consumers that further power cuts were needed to continue work after the attacks.
“We are assessing the aftermath and coordinating what actions need to be taken to find alternative energy sources to ensure that people get their power and heating back,” Hrynchuk said on national television.

According to news reports and unofficial social media accounts, power outages continued in at least two regions: Kharkov in the northeast and Poltava in central Ukraine.

State energy company Tsentrenergo said the attacks were the largest on its facilities since the war began in February 2022, and that it had halted operations at its factories in the Kiev and Kharkiv regions.
“The last attack was less than a month ago and the enemy has now hit all our production capacity at the same time. The stations are on fire!” Tsentrenergo, which generates about 8 percent of Ukraine’s power, said in a statement.

“Our generation is now zero.”

Zelenskyy calls for more pressure on sanctions

Zelenskyy said sanctions pressure must be increased.
“For every Moscow attack on energy infrastructure – aimed at harming ordinary people before winter – there must be a sanctions response targeting all Russian energy, without exceptions,” he said in the Telegram app.

Sybiha called for an emergency meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency’s board of governors and urged China and India to pressure Russia to stop attacking facilities at risk of “a catastrophic incident.”

Since the start of its invasion, Russia has attacked the energy sector as its need for heating grows. According to state-owned Naftogaz, it attacked gas facilities nine times in two months.
Russia has also continued its advance on the battlefield in recent weeks. Moscow said on Saturday that its forces had made gains around the cities of Pokrovsk and Kupiansk and had captured a small village in eastern Ukraine.
Kiev has stepped up long-range drone and missile attacks into Russia, hitting oil refineries, depots and logistics hubs that it says fuel the Kremlin’s war machine.
According to Ukraine, the attacks are legitimate self-defense in the war that Russia launched in February 2022.
The Ukrainian Air Force said 406 Russian drones and nine missiles were shot down on Saturday night, and that 26 Russian missiles and 52 drones hit 25 locations.

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