Russia launched a new wave of missile and drone attacks on Ukraine overnight, targeting energy facilities in the southeast and west of the country. This marks the eighth significant assault on Ukraine’s power infrastructure in the last three months.
Details of the Attack
- Missiles and Drones: Russia fired 16 missiles and 13 Shahed drones at critical energy infrastructure.
- Intercepted Attacks: Ukrainian air defenses successfully intercepted 12 of the 16 missiles and all 13 drones.
- Damage and Injuries: The attacks damaged equipment in the Zaporizhzhia and Lviv regions, injuring two energy workers when a fire broke out at a facility in Zaporizhzhia.
Context and Impact
- Infrastructure Warfare: Both Russia and Ukraine have been targeting each other’s infrastructure to limit their opponent’s ability to wage war. This comes as frontline combat remains relatively stagnant with only minor territorial changes.
- Previous Strikes: The latest attack follows Ukrainian military strikes on three oil refineries in southern Russia.
- Power Crisis: Ukraine is grappling with severe power shortages due to continuous Russian attacks that have halved its power generation capacity, leading to widespread blackouts.
Additional Developments
- Casualties in Donetsk and Kherson: In the Donetsk region, Russian attacks killed five people and injured seven more. In Kherson, a policeman was killed by a Russian drone attack on a checkpoint.
- Russian Air Defense: Russia reported that its air defenses destroyed five drones over the Sea of Azov and in the western regions of Bryansk and Smolensk. They also claimed to have thwarted a naval attack in the Black Sea.
The ongoing conflict, now in its third year, continues to see both sides inflicting damage on infrastructure to weaken each other’s war capabilities. The humanitarian toll is mounting, with significant casualties and damage to essential services.
