A Russian aerial bombardment of Ukraine damaged several facilities in an attack that targeted energy infrastructure across the country, Ukrainian military and energy officials said on Wednesday (8 May).
“Another massive attack on our energy industry!” Ukrainian Energy Minister German Galushchenko wrote on the Telegram messaging app.
Electricity production and transmission facilities were targeted in the Poltava, Kirovohrad, Zaporizhzhia, Lviv, Ivano-Frankivsk and Vinnytsia regions.
With the exception of the Zaporizhzhia region, all other regions are far from the front line that runs through the east and south-east of Ukraine.
The extent of Russia’s attack on Ukraine was not immediately known. Moscow had no immediate comment.
Ukrainian national grid operator Ukrenergo said on Telegram that equipment at one of its plants in central Ukraine had been damaged, without providing further details.
In the central Poltava region, an energy infrastructure plant was hit by a drone attack, triggering a fire, Poltava regional governor Filip Pronin wrote on Telegram.
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According to preliminary information, there were no casualties.
The governors of Vinnytsia and Zaporizhzhia regions said separately that critical civilian infrastructure had been damaged, without providing further details.
All missiles aimed at Kiev were destroyed, Serhiy Popko, head of the city’s military administration, said on the Telegram messaging application. He added that there was no serious damage or injuries as a result of the attack.
Reuters witnesses in Kiev reported hearing bangs, which sounded like air defense systems hitting aerial objects.
Air defense systems were also busy repelling the Russian attack on the Lviv region, which borders NATO member Poland, where several explosions occurred, regional officials said.
Russia, which began its large-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, has launched a series of attacks on Ukrainian power facilities in recent months. Moscow denies targeting civilians but says Ukraine’s energy system is a legitimate military target.
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