Russia launched a massive overnight drone and missile assault on several Ukrainian regions, primarily targeting energy infrastructure, Ukraine’s energy ministry said on Friday.
The attack included 381 drones and 35 missiles that targeted facilities in the eastern Kharkiv region and also central Ukraine’s Poltava region, where the country’s main gas production facilities are located.
Authorities provided no other details about the attack or the damage caused, but top private energy provider DTEK said it had suspended operations at several gas facilities in the Poltava region.
Ukraine has boosted gas imports, fearing disruption of domestic supplies, and intends to stockpile 13.2 billion cubic meters (bcm) of gas in storage facilities by mid-October. This will include some 4.6 bcm of imported gas.
Russia has stepped up its attacks on Ukraine’s energy sector as the fourth winter of war approaches and they have already triggered prolonged blackouts in several regions.
A drone attack on the northern Kyiv and Chernihiv regions on Wednesday also knocked out power to the Chornobyl nuclear power plant for three hours, including the new containment vessel erected in 2016 to keep radiation from leaking.
The fourth reactor at the Chornobyl plant exploded in 1986 in the world’s worst civil nuclear disaster.
(Reuters)
