Thermal power plants hit again
Heavy Russian air strike shakes Ukraine
May 8, 2024, 1:15 p.m
Listen to article
This audio version was artificially generated. More info | Send feedback
Russia is attacking Ukraine again with many missiles and drones. Several injuries and hits on civilian infrastructure are reported – including thermal power plants. President Zelensky speaks of a “massive rocket attack by Nazi Putin on Remembrance and Victory Day.”
According to information from Kiev, Russia again massively attacked the energy infrastructure in several regions of Ukraine with drones and missiles during the night. “The enemy is not backing down from his plans to take away the light from the Ukrainians. A new massive attack on our energy industry,” wrote Energy Minister Herman Halushchenko on Telegram. The attacks were aimed at power generation plants in numerous regions of the country, including Poltava, Zaporizhia and Lviv.
According to regional governor Oleksandr Prokudin, the city of Kherson in the south of the country was also partially without power. According to the Ukrainian Air Force, only 39 of the 55 missiles fired by Russia were shot down, as were 20 of the 21 attack drones.
It is not known whether the rather low rocket launch rate is due to the lack of anti-aircraft systems or anti-aircraft ammunition. In recent weeks, the Ukrainian armed forces have sometimes run out of ammunition during Russian attacks. The billions in aid from the USA are only just beginning.
Rescue workers at a damaged building in the Kiev region.
(Photo: picture alliance/dpa/Ukrainian Emergency Service)
Thermal power plants hit again
The Ukrainian energy supplier Dtek said three thermal power plants were “severely damaged”. According to him, energy facilities have been attacked around 180 times since the Russian invasion began in February 2022 – including five times in the past six weeks. The Ukrainian thermal power plant infrastructure has already suffered massive damage, making successful hits particularly devastating.
According to local authorities, at least six people were injured overnight, including one in the southern Dnipropetrovsk region, one in Kirovograd in the center of the country, and four near and in the capital Kiev.
The military administration in Kiev said that Russian Tu-95MS fighter jets had fired on the Ukrainian capital several times. All rockets were shot down. Kiev was therefore on alert for three hours.
Ukrainian President Zelensky noted in a social media post that the attacks coincided with the day Ukraine commemorated the end of European hostilities in World War II. “Massive rocket attack by Nazi Putin on the day of remembrance and victory over Nazism in World War II,” he wrote. “The whole world should clearly understand who is who. The whole world has no right to give Nazism another chance.”