7 killed in Russian bombing targeting energy facilities in Ukraine news

Ukrainian officials said on Saturday that Russia launched a barrage of drones and missiles during last night’s attacks on Ukraine that targeted substations supplying two nuclear power plants with electricity and resulted in the deaths of 7 people.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sipha said on the X website that Russia once again targeted the substations that supply electricity to the Khmelnytsky and Rivne nuclear power plants.

He added that these strikes were not accidental, but rather well planned, accusing Russia of intentionally endangering nuclear safety in Europe.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that Russia launched more than 450 drones and 45 missiles.

3 were killed and 12 others were injured in the city of Dnipro after a drone targeted a residential building. Officials said that 3 were killed in the Zaporozhye region and one in the Kharkiv region in the north of the country.

Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Sviridenko said that energy facilities in the Kiev, Poltava and Kharkiv regions were damaged.

The state-owned Tsenter Energy company said that the attacks were the largest on its facilities since the outbreak of war in February 2022, and that it had suspended operations at its facilities in the Kiev and Kharkiv regions.

The company, which generates about 8% of Ukraine’s electricity, added in a statement, “The most recent attack occurred less than a month ago, and the enemy is now attacking all of our capabilities to generate electricity at the same time. The stations are on fire.” “Our electricity generation is now zero,” she added.

Zelensky pointed out the need to intensify sanctions on Russia to increase pressure on it.

He wrote on the Telegram application, “For every strike launched by Moscow on the energy infrastructure with the aim of harming civilians before winter, a response must be taken by imposing sanctions targeting all Russian energy sources, without…
exception”.

The Ukrainian Foreign Minister called for an urgent meeting of the Board of Governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency, and urged China and India to put pressure on Russia to stop attacks on facilities that threaten a “catastrophic accident.”

Targeting the energy sector

Since the start of its comprehensive attack on Ukraine nearly 4 years ago, Russia has been targeting the energy sector as the need for heating increases.

The state energy company Naftogaz said that during the fall of this year, Russia launched 9 attacks on gas facilities within two months.

The Russian Defense Ministry said it launched a “large-scale attack with long-range, high-precision air, land and sea weapons” on weapons and energy production facilities in response to Kiev’s attacks on Russia.

Russia also stated that its forces are continuing to advance in fierce battles in the main cities of Pokrovsk and Kubyansk, and that it has taken control of a small village in eastern Ukraine.

Ukraine continues to launch its drones to bomb oil facilities inside Russia.

As diplomatic efforts to stop the war falter, Kiev is seeking to reduce Moscow’s ability to finance the war.

The Ukrainian Air Force said that it shot down 406 Russian drones and 9 missiles, and that 26 missiles and 52 Russian drones bombed 25 sites.