Russian attacks continue to target Ukrainian energy facilities

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russia launched a new barrage of missiles and drones in a nighttime attack on Ukraine, officials in Kiev said Saturday morning, damaging energy facilities in the southeast and west of the country and injuring at least two energy workers. energy.

In his eighth major attack on Ukrainian power plants since Moscow intensified attacks on energy infrastructure Three months ago, Russia fired 16 missiles and 13 Shahed drones at energy facilities and critical infrastructure, the Ukrainian Air Force said.

Ukraine’s air defenses intercepted 12 of 16 missiles and all 13 drones launched by Russia, the Air Force said.

State power grid operator Ukrenergo said the attacks damaged equipment at facilities in the southeastern region of Zaporizhzhia and the western region of Lviv.

Two energy sector workers were injured in the Zaporizhzhia region when a fire broke out at an energy facility, according to regional governor Ivan Fedorov.

No major changes reported along the 1,000-kilometer (600-mile) front line, where a recent impulse by Kremlin forces in eastern and northeastern Ukraine made only incremental gains, both sides targeted infrastructural targets, seeking to reduce each other’s ability to fight in a war which is now in its third year.

Moscow’s night attack on Zaporizhzhia and Lviv follows Ukrainian military strikes in three oil refineries in southern Russia overnight until Friday.

Ukraine is struggling to cope with a new wave of rolling blackouts after relentless Russian attacks destroyed half of the country’s power generation capacity.

In other developments, the governor of the partially occupied Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine said on Saturday that Russian strikes had killed five people and injured seven others the previous day.

A police officer was killed in the partially occupied Kherson region as a result of a Russian drone attack on a checkpoint, the Ukrainian National Police said.

In Russia, air defense systems overnight destroyed five drones over the Sea of ​​Azov and the western regions of Bryansk and Smolensk, the Russian Defense Ministry said.

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