The Ukrainian energy network, already very fragile, faced a new Russian attack this Sunday, November 17. massive », announced the national authorities. These bombings caused deaths and injuries across the country.
4 mins
In Ukrainethis Sunday, November 17, a “ massive attack on the energy system is underway », Warned Energy Minister German Galushchenko. According to President Volodymyr Zelensky, 120 missiles and 90 drones were launched. The anti-aircraft defense managed to destroy 140 of these targets, according to him. Russian forces attack electricity generation and transmission facilities across Ukraine “, he added. These attacks were preceded by weeks of sending kamikaze drones intended mainly to wear down the country’s defense in anticipation of attacks like what we have just experienced, i.e. combined drone and missile strikes. launched from the Black Sea, Russian territory and from the air, writes our correspondent in kyiv, Emmanuelle Chaze. Moscow, by increasing its attacks, has already destroyed half of Ukraine’s energy capacity, according to kyiv. The Ukrainian energy operator, DTEK, indicated that some of its thermal power plants had been “ seriously damaged ”, without causing any casualties. The extent of the damage is, however, difficult to estimate.
“ One of the greatest aerial attacks »
The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Andriï Sybiga, denounced “ one of the largest air attacks » launched by Russia. These strikes occur at a time when Ukraine, in difficulty on the front, fears losing precious American support with the imminent arrival of Donald Trump at the White House. The country, which fights the invasion Russian for almost three years, has regularly faced major power cuts, raising fears of a harsh winter.
Sunday, emergency power cuts » were announced in kyiv and its region, where the alert lasted five hours, as well as in Donetsk and Dnipropetrovsk, both in the east, according to the operator DTEK. Power was also cut in parts of Odessa, a large southern port city, according to its mayor. Of the “ critical infrastructure ” Or ” energy » were affected by attacks in the regions of Vinnytsia (central-west), Rivné, Volynié (west) and Zaporizhia (south), indicated the various local authorities. DTEK said this was the eighth major attack on its plants this year. kyiv is urging its Western partners to help rebuild its electricity grid, a project that requires significant investment, and to provide it with more air defense equipment to counter Russian bombing.
Missiles reached Transcarpathia
In total, different types of Russian attacks against the country during the night and morning left eight dead and around twenty injured, according to local authorities. Among them, two employees of the state railway company Ukrzaliznytsia were killed during the bombing of a depot in Nikopol (south), and three were injured, the company announced. A woman was killed and two people were injured by an attack on the Lviv region, located in the west and more rarely targeted, announced the head of the military administration, Maksym Kozytsky. Two people were also killed, and a 17-year-old boy injured, in Odessa, according to Governor Oleg Kiper. A drone strike killed two people and injured six others, including two children, in the southern city of Mykolaiv, according to the emergency services. Two other people were injured in the capital kyiv in an attack on a residential building, according to the Interior Ministry. Several people were also injured in separate attacks in Dnipro (east), as well as in the regions of Poltava (center), Zaporizhia and Kherson (south). Russian missiles and drones have even reached Transcarpathia, a region very rarely targeted in the far west of the country, far from the front and bordering Poland and Hungary in particular.
Minister Andriï Sybiga estimated that these attacks constituted the “ real answer » from Russian President Vladimir Putin to the leaders who “ called or visited him » lately. kyiv was annoyed, on November 15, by a phone call between German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Vladimir Putin, the first since December 2022. Talk to Vladimir Putin « open Pandora’s box », Blamed Volodymyr Zelensky.
Faced with the scale of the Russian attack, the Polish army announced that it had taken off fighter planes and mobilized “ all available forces and resources » to protect its territory during the nighttime Russian attack in Ukraine. Warsaw puts its armed forces on alert as soon as attacks against this neighboring country are deemed likely to create a danger for its own territory.
Also readUkraine: President Zelensky says he wants the war to end in 2025 by “diplomatic means”