Russian forces on Sunday attacked a coal mine in southeastern Ukraine and an unidentified energy site in the north near the Russian border, the operators of the sites said, adding to a series of recent assaults on Ukraine’s energy network.
Private Ukrainian energy firm DTEK said Russian forces launched an attack on a colliery in Dnipropetrovsk region. The company said 192 miners were safely brought to the surface, with no injuries.
The company said it was the fourth Russian assault in two months on coal mining operations in Ukraine.
The regional energy company in the northern border region of Chernihiv, Chernihivoblenergo, said an attack there caused extensive damage and cut off electricity to 55,000 users. Emergency crews would restore power in the area once it was safe to do so, it said.
Russian attacks in recent weeks have focused on Ukraine’s power grid and other energy sites.
Power cuts were imposed in many areas in the past week in the aftermath of an attack earlier this month that cut electricity to more than one million consumers.
Russia attacks Ukraine coal mine, second energy site, companies say
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Russia attacks Ukraine coal mine, second energy site, companies say
- Russian forces launched an attack on a colliery in Dnipropetrovsk region
- It is the fourth Russian assault in two months on coal mining operations in Ukraine
UK defense minister suggests Putin’s ‘hidden hand’ behind Iran tactics
LONDON: UK Defense Minister John Healey suggested on Thursday that Russia was influencing Iran’s use of drone attacks in its war with the United States and Israel.
Healey said Russian President Vladimir Putin’s “hidden hand” may be behind some of the tactics deployed by Tehran in the Middle East conflict, which started when the United States and Israel struck Iran on February 28.
He told reporters that officials were analyzing an Iranian-made drone that hit the UK’s Akrotiri air force base in Cyprus on March 1 “for any evidence of Russian or any other foreign components and parts.”
“We will update you and appropriately publish any findings from that when we’ve got them,” he said during a visit to Britain’s military headquarters in Northwood, near London.
“But I think no one will be surprised to believe that Putin’s hidden hand is behind some of the Iranian tactics, potentially some of their capabilities as well, not least because one world leader that is benefiting from the sky high oil prices at the moment is Putin,” he added.
Russia is a close ally of Iran, with the two agreeing last year to help each other counter “common threats.”
US President Donald Trump said Saturday he had no indication Russia was supporting Iran in the war, but that if they were, it was not “helping much.”
Nick Perry, the British military’s chief of joint operations, told Healey there were “definitively” signs of a link between Russia and Iran, including Iran’s use of drones “as learned from the Russians.”
No one was injured when the drone hit a hangar at Akrotiri. British warplanes shot down a further two drones heading for the base the same day.
Guy Foden, a brigadier in the British army, briefed Healey that UK troops based at a military base housing international coalition troops in Irbil, Iraq, had helped shoot down two Iranian drones on Wednesday.
