Russia targets Ukrainian energy sector in latest round of attacks

Russia has fired missiles at Ukraine in attacks that appear to target the country’s energy sector, officials said.

Ukraine’s air force said Saturday that Russia launched 34 missiles and was able to intercede and shoot down 21 of them, the Associated Press reported.

Herman Halushchenko, energy minister, said energy facilities in Dnipropetrovsk in the south and in Ivano-Frankivsk and Lviv in the west were hit. An engineer was injured.

DTEK, a private power operator, said four of its six thermal power plants were seriously damaged. One employee was hospitalized and the company is assessing the level of damage.

“Since the start of the large-scale invasion, #DTEK thermal power plants have been attacked more than 170 times,” the company said on social media platform

Russia had already destroyed one of Ukraine’s largest power plants earlier this month in a massive barrage of missile attacks.

The news comes just days after President Biden signed foreign aid legislation that will provide Ukraine with $61 billion in aid as the war in Eastern Europe continues. The State Department also recently approved $138 million in sales to Ukraine for repairs to its HAWK missile defense systems to keep up with Russia’s attacks, more than two years after the invasion began.

Russia also attacked near Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, injuring one person and killing another, according to the AP.

However, Ukraine counterattacked at the same time.

The Defense Ministry said Russian air defense systems intercepted 66 drones in the southern Krasnodar region. There were no casualties or serious damage, according to the region’s governor.

The Associated Press contributed.