KYIV — Critical infrastructure across Ukraine was pounded by more than a dozen Russian missiles on Saturday, the Ukrainian air force said, with several regions reporting strikes on energy facilities and power outages.
Ukraine’s air force command reported that 33 missiles had been fired at Ukraine on Saturday morning, and that 18 of those had been shot down.
Since October 10, Russia has launched a series of devastating salvos at Ukraine’s power infrastructure, which have hit at least half of its thermal power generation and up to 40 per cent of the entire system.
Local officials in regions across Ukraine reported strikes on energy facilities and power outages as engineers scrambled to restore the ruined network. Some advised residents to stock up on water in case of cut-offs.
After the first wave of missiles hit early in the morning, air raid sirens rang out again nationwide at 11:15 am local time (08:15 GMT).
State grid operator Ukrenergo said the attacks targeted transmission infrastructure in western Ukraine, but that power supply restrictions were being put in place in ten regions across the entire country, including in the capital, Kyiv.
“The scale of damage is comparable or may exceed the consequences of the attacks (between) October 10-12,” Ukrenergo wrote on the Telegram app, referring to the first wave of strikes on Ukraine’s power system last week.
“Another rocket attack from terrorists who are fighting against civilian infrastructure and people,” the Ukrainian president’s chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, wrote on the Telegram app.
Ukrainian forces shot down a Russian missile over the Kyiv region, local police chief Andriy Nyebytov said, posting a photograph of a column of smoke rising from a forest where he said the missile’s debris had landed.
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