Russia's army on Thursday launched a massive attack on Ukraine's energy sector. Picture: Nina Liashonok / NurPhoto / AFP
Russia's army on Thursday launched a massive attack on Ukraine's energy sector, forcing emergency power outages as temperatures dropped to freezing across the country.
Ukraine's energy grid has been heavily targeted since Russia invaded in February 2022, with Kyiv accusing Moscow of "terror" tactics by trying to plunge Ukrainian cities into darkness and cut off heating to civilians throughout the winter.
The overnight strikes come after two weeks of dramatic escalation that has seen both sides launch new weapons to gain an upper hand ahead of Donald Trump being inaugurated as US president in January.
Ukraine's Energy Minister German Galushchenko said power infrastructure was "under massive enemy attack" after a countrywide air alert was issued for incoming missiles.
The air force reported a string of Russian cruise missiles and attack drones heading for cities across the country, including the capital Kyiv, Kharkiv in the north east and the Black Sea port city of Odesa.
"Once again, the energy sector is under massive enemy attack. Attacks on energy facilities are taking place across Ukraine," Galushchenko said.
National power grid operator Ukrenergo had "urgently introduced emergency power cuts", he added, as temperatures dropped to around 0 degrees Celsius (32 degrees Fahrenheit).
Energy provider DTEK said Ukrenergo was introducing emergency power outages in the regions of Kyiv, Odesa, Dnipro and Donetsk.
The nationwide attack was ongoing as of 8am according to messages from the air force.
"As soon as the security situation will allow it, the consequences (of the strikes) will be specified," Galushchenko said.
Missile stockpiles
President Volodymyr Zelensky's chief of staff said the wave of attacks showed Russia was "continuing their tactics of terror."
"They stockpiled missiles for attacks on Ukrainian infrastructure, for warfare against civilians during... winter," Andriy Yermak said in a post on Telegram and pledged that Ukraine would respond.
A senior UN official, Rosemary DiCarlo, this month warned Russian strikes on Ukraine's energy infrastructure may make this winter the "harshest since the start of the war".
Russia earlier this week said it was preparing its own retaliation for Ukrainian strikes on its territory using US-supplied ATACMS missiles.
Ukraine has launched at least three attacks on Russian border regions with the missiles since the White House gave it permission to fire them on Russian territory.
Moscow responded to the first strike by firing a never-before-seen hypersonic ballistic missile at the Ukrainian city of Dnipro.
In an angry address to the nation, Russian President Vladimir Putin warned the nuclear-capable missile could be used against Western countries if they let their arms be used by Ukraine to hit Russia.
Russia's defence ministry said Thursday it had downed 25 Ukrainian drones fired overnight, including 14 over the southern Krasnodar territory -- just to the east of the annexed Crimean peninsula.
Krasnodar's governor said a woman was wounded by falling debris in the town of Slavyansk-on-Kuban, around 100 kilometres (60 miles) east of the Kerch bridge -- the giant infrastructure project linking Crimea to Russia that Kyiv has heavily targeted throughout the war.
New US envoy
The latest missile salvo comes a day after US president-elect Trump named staunch loyalist and retired general Keith Kellogg as his Ukraine envoy, charged with ending the Russian invasion.
Trump campaigned on a platform of securing a swift end to the Ukraine war, boasting that he would quickly mediate a ceasefire deal -- comments that have triggered concern in Kyiv that the US could push it to cede land.
Kellog, an 80-year-old national security veteran, co-authored a paper this year calling for Washington to leverage military aid as a means of pushing for peace talks.
The outgoing Biden administration has urged Ukraine drop the minimum age of conscription to 18 to plug severe manpower shortages across the 1,000-kilometre (600-mile) front line.
Russian troops have been advancing in the east for months, where they have a manpower and ammunition advantage over Ukraine's stretched forces.
AFP