Attack comes hours after Zelensky said talks to end war to take place next week with US
Local resident walk amid the debris near a damaged house in Odesa, southern Ukraine. Pic/AFP
Russia targeted Ukraine’s energy infrastructure in a large-scale missile and drone bombardment during the night, officials said on Friday, hours after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said talks with the US on ending the 3-year war will take place next week. At least 10 people, including a child, were injured, authorities said.
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“Russia is trying to hurt ordinary Ukrainians by striking energy and gas production facilities, without abandoning its goal of leaving us without light and heat, and causing the greatest harm to ordinary citizens,” Energy Minister Herman Halushchenko said.
Russia has repeatedly targeted Ukraine’s power grid during the war. The attacks have depleted electricity generation capacity and disrupted critical heating and water supplies. Ukrainian officials have accused Russia of “weaponising winter” in an effort to erode civilian morale.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Friday that the energy supply is a legitimate target in the war because it is “linked with Ukraine’s military industrial complex and weapons production”.
Russia fired 67 missiles from air, land and sea and launched 194 strike and decoy drones, Ukraine’s air force said. Their primary target was Ukraine’s natural gas extraction facilities, it said.
For the first time, Ukraine deployed French Mirage-2000 warplanes delivered a month ago to help repel the attack, according to the air force. Ukraine also has Western-supplied F-16 fighter jets to shoot down Russian missiles.
Ukrainian defences downed 34 missiles and 100 drones, the air force said, while up to 10 missiles didn’t reach their targets and 86 drones were lost from radars, presumably jammed by electronic warfare.
Meanwhile, Russian air defences downed 39 Ukrainian drones overnight, according to the Russian Defence Ministry.
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