It has been confirmed that more than 00,000 homes and businesses have been sent total blackness across Ukraine early Thursday after Russia launched a widespread missile and drone attack on the country’s energy sector.
While reacting to the attack Russian President Vladimir Putin stated that it was a complex strike which is a retaliation for Ukraine using American-made ATACMS missiles to strike inside Russia. Despite the widespread civilian impact, he claimed, without evidence, that the assault targeted military sites.
In an effort to put the citizens on alert air raid sirens rang out late Wednesday night and blared for more than nine hours. The residents across the country had taken refuge in the bomb shelters, subway stations and even their own bathrooms, waiting out the bombardment alongside strollers, pets and what little blankets they could carry.
The strike by the Russian troops was sent as the weather in the country got worse which has been characterised as a deliberate effort by the Russian government to deliberately deploy. The temperature is forecast to stay below 35 degrees Fahrenheit all of Thursday, with fog in the air and snow already covering Kyiv’s roofs.
Valeria Grinchuk, 24, a make-up artist in the city of Lutsk explained that it was about 6 am local time that the loud explosion was heard, she noted that immediately after the strike was heard she ran out to hear another two explosions coming from the same direction. She noted that she had managed to escape with her cats.
She stated that she could not listen or read the news so she could not expect anything of such. She noted that she had begun to use the gas stove amidst the blackout which she noted that she had gotten used to in the past hours. She explained that she felt a strong hatred from the opposition and could not understand the reason for such a decision. She noted that they could not understand the rate of the hate.
The physical discomfort of these outages is compounded by the uncertainty of President-elect Donald Trump’s looming inauguration on January 20. His unwillingness to commit support for Ukraine brings a huge degree of uncertainty to the conflict, just as Russia is making its fastest battlefield gains since the early days of the 2022 invasion.
This was Russia’s 11th attack on Ukraine’s energy sector this year, officials said. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called it a “very vile escalation of Russian terrorist tactics.”
According to a post by the Armed Forces of Ukraine, it was disclosed that it had detected 188 incoming attack targets, including 57 cruise missiles fired from Tupolev Tu-95 bombers, 28 Kalibr cruise missiles fired from ships in the Black Sea, and 97 Iran-designed Shahid drones, according to a post by the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
Ukraine’s energy minister, Herman Halushchenko, in a post on social media, stated that again, the energy system is under a massive attack from the enemy. He noted that the attacks on energy facilities are taking place all over Ukraine.
Zelenskyy reacted and stated that the attacks included cluster munitions, which “make it much more difficult for our rescuers and energy workers to eliminate the consequences of the impact.
Putin spoke on the details of the attack in a submission in Kazakhstan of the Russian-led Collective Security Treaty Organization. He noted that the strikes on our part were in response to unrelenting strikes on the Russian territory with the U.S. ATACMS missiles. He noted that the country will continue to stay true to its words of always responding to the attacks that have kept coming. He criticised the way Ukraine nags its masters for other weapons.
Ukraine has made no secret of its desire for more Western assistance, making the case that Kyiv is defending not just itself but all of Europe and the West against Kremlin aggression. Following the attack, Zelenskyy reiterated calls for his allies to provide more military assistance.
He noted that the attacks have shown that the country needs a high level of air defence to be used in saving the lives of the people but not for storage. He further noted that it was more important in the winter when they had to protect the infrastructure of the country of the country that had been targeted by Russia
Ukraine’s living air defenses were able to bring down more than 100 of these incoming projectiles, the army said, but dozens got through. The Worst hit were several western regions that do not often face Russian attack. As of Thursday morning, some 523,000 homes and businesses in the Lviv region were without power, Governor Maksym Kozytskyi wrote on Telegram.
In neighbouring Volyn, it was disclosed that some 215,000 customers were without electricity, Governor Ivan Rudnytskyi, wrote on social media, after a transformer substation was hit in the regional capital of Lutsk. It was disclosed that other outages were reported in the Khmelnytskyi, Ivano-Frankivsk, Zhytomyr and Rivne oblasts, with many schools telling children to study at home.
In Cherkasy, an entrepreneur Elena Bondarenko, 52, survived a night of sirens, and drones, then you don’t sleep listening to every sound and monitoring the news. It was scary and unpleasant. She said was speaking with fear. She and her husband have endured power cuts before.
Today they faced hours more without electricity, and there is another scheduled outage this evening as the grid attempts to cope with the destruction.
She stated that it has been difficult to live like that as the situation has changed the plans of their lives as the lockout bites harder. She noted that everything that was happening was awful at the moment. She called on the people to adjust and cope with the situation as she noted that she never wanted to get used to the situation.
In Kyiv, officials disclosed that anti-aircraft guns blocked all inbound targets, although falling rubble caused damage in the Dniprovskyy and Darnytskyy districts, causing damage to a truck and buildings in an industrial area.
The Energy Ministry disclosed in an online post that power engineers are working to provide backup power schemes where possible. They have already begun restoration work where the security situation allows.
The attack by Russia was heard hours after Trump said he would nominate retired Gen. Keith Kellogg to serve as his special envoy for Ukraine and Russia.
In an earlier statement, Kellogg has in the past suggested he could condition U.S. military aid to Kyiv on their participation in peace talks with Russia. So far, it has been disclosed that the U.S. has so far provided some $70 billion in military aid to Ukraine, more than any other country. Trump has repeatedly refused to commit to continuing this assistance, instead saying he would finish the war before his inauguration — without saying how.
