According to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Russia is attacking Ukraine’s energy production because it is otherwise unable to defeat Ukraine in a war.
In Ukraine, an estimated 4.5 million people are without electricity, says the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyi. He told about it in his daily video talk on Thursday evening.
– Even tonight, about 4.5 million consumers have been temporarily disconnected from the electricity grid as a result of emergency and stabilization schedules, Zelenskyi said in his speech.
According to Zelenskyi, there are outages in ten other regions in addition to the region of the capital Kyiv. He also did not consider it impossible that there could be power cuts elsewhere as well.
– Coping with Russian energy terrorism is a national challenge, one of our most important challenges, Zelenskyi said.
– The fact that Russia has had to resort to terror targeting the energy industry indicates the weakness of the opponent, Zelenskyi said.
According to him, Russia is attacking energy production because it has not been able to beat Ukraine in battles.
– This is why they are trying to break our nation like this – to humiliate Ukrainians, to strike at the fighting will and resistance of our citizens. I don’t think Russia will succeed, Zelenskyi said.
In his speech, Zelenskyi urged Ukrainians to avoid unnecessary electricity consumption. In addition, he urged the electricity companies to explain to people more actively why and when each residential area or street will be disconnected from the electricity grid.
Russian forces have targeted Ukraine’s energy infrastructure for several weeks now. Within a month, an estimated third of the country’s power plants have been destroyed by Russian attacks. For this reason, the Ukrainian authorities have asked citizens to save on electricity consumption.
“The IAEA’s decision on the dirty bomb is clear”
In his video speech, Zelenskyi also commented on the International Atomic Energy Agency’s inspection visit to Ukrainian nuclear facilities, which Russia has suspected of being used for the production of so-called dirty bombs.
At the request of Ukraine, the organization inspected the facilities that were the object of suspicion. On Thursday, IAEA investigators said they have found no evidence of a dirty bomb to support Russia’s claims.
The inspectors examined three different places in Ukraine and collected samples. The inspectors report that they were able to visit all the places they wanted.
According to Zelenskyi, the decision made by the IAEA on Thursday is obvious.
– We have clear and indisputable evidence that no one in Ukraine has made a “dirty bomb”, says Zelenskyi.