Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky claimed today that Russia will seek this winter to “destroy” his country’s electricity system, as it did last year when it increased its bombing of critical infrastructure.

“This winter Russian terrorists will again try to destroy the electricity system,” Zelensky said in his daily address posted on social networking sites. Ukrainian officials, he added, “are fully aware of the danger.”

The Ukrainians are preparing “to protect electricity and heating supply and distribution facilities and to repair what was damaged by the strikes,” Zelensky said. “It is very important to win this winter, overcome all difficulties and guarantee the safety of our people,” he stressed.

Last winter was marked by a bombing campaign against Ukrainian infrastructure, leaving millions of people in the cold and dark.

Zelensky said on Thursday that he had received clear assurances from Ukraine’s European allies that they would supply it with new anti-aircraft systems, as Kiev has been demanding for months.