KYIV: Ukraine on Saturday said Russia had launched a “massive” overnight attack on energy infrastructure in the country’s west and south.
“Equipment at (operator) Ukrenergo facilities in Zaporizhzhia and Lviv regions was damaged,” the energy ministry said, adding that two employees were wounded and hospitalized in Zaporizhzhia.
It said this was “the eighth massive, combined attack on energy infrastructure facilities” in the past three months.
More than two years into the Russian invasion, targeted missile and drone attacks have crippled Ukraine’s electricity generation capacity and forced Kyiv to impose blackouts and import supplies from the European Union.
Ukrainian authorities on Thursday said energy infrastructure, including a power station, had been damaged in a major overnight attack which left seven employees wounded.
DTEK, the largest private energy company in Ukraine, said the strikes caused “serious damage” at one of its plants.
Russian attacks have destroyed half of Ukraine’s energy capacity, according to President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Zelensky said this week that all hospitals and schools in Ukraine must be equipped with solar panels “as soon as possible.”
“We are doing everything to ensure that Russian attempts to blackmail us on heat and electricity fail,” he said Thursday.
DTEK chief executive Maxim Timchenko warned that Ukraine “faces a serious crisis this winter” if the country’s Western allies do not provide military aid to defend the energy network.
Zelensky has repeatedly urged Ukraine’s allies to send more air-defense systems to protect the country’s vital infrastructure.
US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said Thursday that Washington would prioritize deliveries of anti-air missiles to Kyiv, ahead of other countries that have placed orders.
Zelensky said in a message on X he was “deeply grateful” for the US move.
“These additional air defense capabilities will protect Ukrainian cities and civilians,” he wrote.
Russia launches ‘massive’ attack on Ukraine power infrastructure
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Russia launches ‘massive’ attack on Ukraine power infrastructure
- More than two years into the conflict, targeted missile and drone attacks have crippled Ukraine’s electricity generation capacity
Russia increasing hybrid threats around Sweden: Swedish military intelligence
- “Russia has, in certain cases, stepped up actions and increased its presence,” Nilsson said
- Russia was “constantly developing its capabilities and was ready to take greater risks and use them“
STOCKHOLM: Russia has stepped up its hybrid threat activities and seems willing to take greater risks in Sweden and the region, the head of Sweden’s military intelligence told AFP on Tuesday.
“Russia has, in certain cases, stepped up actions and increased its presence — and perhaps with a greater risk appetite — in our vicinity,” Thomas Nilsson, head of Sweden’s Military Intelligence and Security Service (MUST), told AFP.
He added that he believed Moscow would “unfortunately” continue doing so — regardless of whether it succeeds in Ukraine or not.
Nilsson did not cite any particular attacks, but MUST said in its yearly threat review released Tuesday that Russia “has developed a wide range of methods that can be used within the framework of hybrid warfare,” including disinformation, cyberattacks, economic sanctions, intelligence operations, and election interference.
“A certain desperation can set in, where you push even harder to reach your goals,” Nilsson said, referring to Russia.
Conversely, he said that if Russia were to succeed “that can lead to an increased appetite for risk.”
Russia was “constantly developing its capabilities and was ready to take greater risks and use them.”
“Including what I call advanced sabotage. Including assassination plots, serious arson, and attacks on critical societal infrastructure,” he said.
In its review, the agency noted that so far “the most risk-prone actions through sabotage and hybrid measures have mainly affected other allies.”
But Nilsson also told AFP that Sweden’s security situation had continued to deteriorate, as it has in previous years, particularly since Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
Russia is also the main “military threat to Sweden and NATO,” the review stated, warning the threat was likely to grow as Russia increases resources for its armed forces.
“Alongside resources for the war in Ukraine, Russia is reinforcing its resources in the Baltic Sea region, as it is a strategically very important region for Russia, both economically and militarily,” MUST wrote in the review.
MUST said that the Baltic Sea build-up “has already begun,” but added that “the pace will be affected” by the course of the war in Ukraine as well as the Russian economy and the country’s relations with China.
The report came as Russian and Ukrainian negotiators were due to meet in Geneva for fresh US-brokered talks seeking to end the four-year war, as both sides accused the other of a fresh wave of long-range strikes.
