Ukraine says ‘massive’ Russian attack targets energy infrastructure

By Victoria Butenko and Rhea Mogul, CNN

(CNN) — Russia carried out a “massive attack” on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, top Ukrainian officials said early Friday, leaving parts of the capital Kyiv without power.

The Kremlin appears to again be using a tactic deployed in previous years, depriving Ukrainians of power and heat ahead of the bitter winter months. Russia started attacking Ukraine’s energy infrastructure in late September, according to official reports and CNN’s assessment.

The attacks have been almost daily since then, with targets including energy generating facilities, including gas production and distribution.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called Friday’s strike “a cynical and calculated attack, with more than 450 drones and over 30 missiles targeting everything that sustains normal life, everything the Russians want to deprive us of.”

“It is precisely the civilian and energy infrastructure that is the main target of Russia’s strikes ahead of the heating season,” he added.

It is Russia’s “goal to leave us in darkness, without water and heat,” said the Kyiv region’s governor, Mykola Kalashnik, adding that about 28,000 families in the Brovary and Boryspil districts were without power.

Power outages also affected more than 16,500 households and 800 businesses in the Poltava region, its governor Volodymyr Kogut said.

A 7-year-old boy was killed in a strike on the southeastern city of Zaporizhzhia, and dozens more injured, according to foreign minister Andriy Sybiha.

“In Kyiv, Kharkiv, Poltava, Zaporizhzhia, Dnipro, and other regions, many people remain without power following Russian strikes on civilian energy objects,” he said.

Workers were taking “all necessary measures to minimize the negative consequences,” Ukraine’s energy minister Svitlana Grynchuk said in a statement Friday.

At least 12 people were injured in Kyiv during Friday’s attack, which had cut some power supplies, said the city’s Mayor Vitali Klitschko.

He said that the left bank of the capital is without power, with the city also reporting water supply issues.

Video from Ukraine’s emergency service shows firefighters in Kyiv working to douse a massive blaze at a building site, and escorting residents to safety.

Ukraine’s largest private energy producer, DTEK Group, said Russia targeted its stations, injuring an energy worker and severely damaging equipment.

This is the third strike on DTEK’s facilities in one week, it said in a statement.

Four people were injured in the Dnipropertrovsk region, its governor Sehiy Lysak said, adding 60 drones were intercepted over the region.

Last Christmas, half a million households were left without heating in the Kharkiv region in temperatures of 3 degrees Celsius (37 degrees Fahrenheit).

This is a developing story and will be updated.

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