After the night attack responsible for the rupture of one of the two lines of the Ukrainian electricity network, this Friday March 22, eight Russian missiles hit the largest hydroelectric power station in Ukraine.
It would be the “biggest attack on the Ukrainian energy industry”, denounced the Ukrainian Minister of Energy. After the rain of missiles and explosive drones responsible for the rupture of one of the two lines of the national network during the night of Thursday March 21 to Friday March 22, eight missiles caused “significant damage” to the largest hydroelectric power station in ‘Ukraine.
This Friday morning, “700,000 consumers [étaient] deprived of electricity,” said Oleksii Kouleba, deputy head of the Ukrainian president’s office, according to Le Figaro. At midday, seven regions were still victims of load shedding. “The electricity system is receiving emergency assistance from three countries,” said a source in a statement on Telegram, relays the daily, specifying that the “most difficult” situation concerns the regions of Kharkiv (east), Odessa ( south), Kirovograd (center) and Dnipropetrosvk (center-east).
This night, Russia launched over 60 “Shahed” drones and nearly 90 missiles of various types at Ukraine. The world sees the Russian terrorists’ targets as clearly as possible: power plants and energy supply lines, a hydroelectric dam, ordinary residential buildings, and even a pic.twitter.com/5dX2fAMMiE
— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / (@ZelenskyyUa) March 22, 2024
“This situation is extremely dangerous and threatens to trigger an emergency situation, because, in the event of a disconnection of this last line of communication with the national electricity grid, the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant will be on the verge of a new blackout”, warned Energoatom, the Ukrainian operator.
Five dead
“The world sees so clearly […] the targets of Russian terrorists: power plants and energy supply lines, a hydroelectric dam, ordinary apartment buildings, and even a trolleybus”, listed Volodymyr Zelensky in his post on X, in which the Ukrainian president also sends its “condolences to the families of those who were killed by this terror”. The death toll rose to five this Friday, March 22.
“Russian missiles have no delays, unlike aid programs for Ukraine. Shahed drones have no indecision, unlike some politicians. It is essential to understand the cost of delays and postponed decisions,” also denounced the Ukrainian head of state, showing his exasperation while American aid has been blocked for months because of political rivalries between Republicans and Democrats, and that of the EU has fallen significantly behind schedule, recalls BFMTV .