Russian missiles, drone attacks on power grid leave thousands of Ukrainians in the dark
Russia launched a barrage of missiles and drones into Ukraine on Wednesday, targeting gas infrastructure and other power utilities in western regions in the latest strike on the country’s overcrowded power grid as mid-winter approaches.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the Russian military fired more than 40 missiles during the early morning attack and used more than 70 drones overnight. Ukraine’s air defenses fired at least 30 missiles, he said.
“Another big attack by Russia. It’s in the middle of winter, and the target of the Russians remains the same: our energy infrastructure,” Zelenskyy said in a social media post on X.
“Among their targets were gas and energy that maintain normal life for our people.”
The capital Kyiv was also hit, with hundreds of residents living in subway stations across the city, sleeping on yoga mats and sitting on folding chairs with their pets.
The governor of Lviv region in western Ukraine said that two power plants in Drohobych and Stryi regions were damaged. In the neighboring village of Ivano-Frankivsk, the governor said air defenses are preventing Russian attacks on facilities.
Both said no injuries had been reported.
Ukraine is asking allies for air defense assistance
Ukrainians use natural gas primarily for home heating and cooking. The country uses gas stored in the summer months for winter use, when daily production does not include consumption.
Ukraine’s underground gas reserves are located in the western part of the country, including the Stryi area. Their role has grown since Kyiv refused to extend the gas transit agreement with Russia.
Russia has stepped up its attacks on Ukraine’s electricity sector and other energy infrastructure since March 2024, knocking out half of the available generation capacity and forcing a long blackout across the country.
Cities, businesses and citizens of Ukraine rushed to install new energy production, including solar panels, batteries, generators and other equipment to increase their self-sufficiency and survive the critical cold months.
Zelenskyy, who visited neighboring Poland on Wednesday, also urged Kyiv’s Western allies to strengthen air defenses in Ukraine.
“We also discussed licenses for the production of air defense systems and missiles for them, which may be one of the effective security guarantees of Ukraine. This is true and necessary for implementation.”
Meanwhile, Russia and Ukraine exchanged 25 prisoners of war after talks brokered by the United Arab Emirates, the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement.
Ceasefire will be ‘hard work’: Trump’s pick
The final days of Joe Biden’s administration have been marked by an escalation of activity on the Ukraine file. The US last week announced an additional $500 million in military aid, including weapons and air defense systems.
The weapons are funded through the president’s withdrawal authority, which means they can be taken directly from US stockpiles.
Washington had previously provided more than $63.5 billion in security assistance to Ukraine since the Russian invasion.
US President Joe Biden has announced nearly $6 billion in additional military and budget aid to Ukraine, including nearly $2.5 billion in security assistance for the war-torn country. With Biden’s term ending in just a few weeks, the 82-year-old is using his last days in office to boost aid to Kyiv before president-elect Donald Trump takes office.
Advisors to president-elect Donald Trump now agree that the war in Ukraine will take months or more to resolve, a sharp reality check on his biggest foreign policy promise – to make a peace deal on his first day in the White House.
Two of Trump’s allies, who have discussed the war in Ukraine with the president-elect, told Reuters that they were looking at a timeline of months to resolve the conflict, describing Day 1 promises as a combination of campaign bluster and a lack of awareness of the uncontrollability of the conflict and the time it takes to hire a new administration.
Senator Marco Rubio, Trump’s nominee for secretary of state, said on Wednesday that Russia and Ukraine would need to make an agreement to end the war in Ukraine.
“It’s going to be a tough job,” Rubio said at a confirmation hearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He said he hoped that the dispute would be resolved, but both sides must be strong for that to happen.
Russia has also sent mixed signals about a possible peace deal, welcoming direct talks with Trump, while dismissing some of the ideas put forward by his advisers as unworkable.
Russia has made significant gains on the battlefield in recent months. While those gains have come at a huge cost in terms of men and goods, many analysts say President Vladimir Putin has an incentive to move slowly on the deal while trying to control more of Ukraine.
John Herbst, a former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine who is now at the Atlantic Council think tank in Washington, pointed to comments earlier this month by Vasily Nebenzya, Russia’s ambassador to the United Nations, who said the peace plans put forth by Trump’s advisers “are not interesting.”
The US Treasury Department said in a statement on Wednesday that Washington is imposing new sanctions on nearly 100 targets – including Russian banks and companies operating in the Russian energy sector – previously sanctioned by the United States, a move it said increases the risk of a second round of sanctions. Russian companies.
Washington also took action against a sanctions avoidance scheme established between Russian and Chinese actors, as well as Keremet Bank, a Kyrgyzstan-based financial institution with ties to Russian officials, and a bank designated by the United States to evade sanctions, according to the report. in the statement.
The US last week also unveiled its most comprehensive package of sanctions to date targeting Russian oil and gas revenues.
Meanwhile, Reuters reported on Tuesday that the European Commission intends to lift the ban on imports of the main Russian aluminum in its 16th round of sanctions against Russia because of its war in Ukraine.
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