‘Massive enemy attack’: Russia strikes Ukraine’s energy infrastructure 

Ukraine’s power infrastructure has come “under massive enemy attack”, according to the country’s energy minister, after a nationwide air raid alert was issued due to incoming Russian missiles.

In a Facebook post on Thursday, Energy Minister German Galushchenko said that “attacks on energy facilities are taking place across Ukraine”, adding that the national power grid’s operator had “urgently introduced emergency power cuts”.

Russia’s Ministry of Defence has not yet made any announcements.

Explosions were heard in the Ukrainian cities of Odesa, Kropyvnytskyi, Kharkiv, Rivne and Lutsk on Thursday morning, Ukrainian news outlets Dzerkalo Tyzhnia and Suspilne said.

“Air defence forces work in the capital. Stay in shelters!” Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said on the Telegram messaging app.

The regional military administration reported on its Telegram channel that the infrastructure of the Shostka community in Ukraine’s Sumy region also came under a Russian missile strike, with its impact being assessed.

People take shelter inside a metro station during a Russian military attack in Kyiv, Ukraine [Alina Smutko/Reuters]

Three missile strikes were reported on the Kyiv district of Kharkiv by the head of the regional military administration, Oleg Sinegubov.

“As of this moment, there are no casualties,” he wrote on his Telegram channel at 6:35am (04:35 GMT).

There are power outages in Kyiv, Odesa, Dnipro and Donetsk regions, according to national power grid operator Ukrenergo, as temperatures across the country dropped to about 0 degrees Celsius (32 degrees Fahrenheit).

Reacting to the attacks, Andriy Yermak, the head of Ukraine’s presidential office, said “the Russians continue their terror tactics”.

“They stockpiled missiles to strike Ukrainian infrastructure, to wage war on civilians during the cold weather, during the winter. They were helped by their crazy allies, in particular from the DPRK,” he wrote on his Telegram channel, referring to North Korea by its official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

“They are even fighting with children. Ukraine has something to respond with,” he added.

The Ukrainian Navy said on Thursday that the Russian Navy has deployed four Kalibr carrier ships to combat duty in the Black Sea with a total salvo of up to 22 missiles.

Russia has repeatedly attacked Ukraine’s energy generation capacity since its full-scale invasion in February 2022, prompting repeated emergency power shutdowns and nationwide rolling blackouts.