Many regions of Ukraine remained without electricity after the largest – since the beginning of the invasion in 2022 – Russian missile and drone attack on the country’s energy infrastructure. This particular development led to new appeal by President Volodymyr Zelensky to foreign allies to speed up military aid to his country.

“This must have been the biggest attack on Ukraine’s energy system” he stated on state television Volodymyr KudrytskyiCEO of the state network operator.

Power supply was cut off as a precaution in several areas to avoid overloading the parts of the network that were not destroyed, added Kudrytskyi.

Ukraine’s air defense managed to intercept more than half of 88 Russian missiles as well as most of the 63 drones, Zelensky said on his Telegram channel.

Moscow’s goal is to shut down Ukraine’s electricity system with the same means as last year, Ukrainian Energy Minister German Galushchenko said in an email.

“Russian missiles do not face delays like military aid packages to our country. “The Shahed drones do not show indecision like some politicians” emphasized Zelensky addressing the country’s allies with the aim of not delaying the provision of aid, which will contribute to the protection of citizens.

Kharkivthe second largest city in Ukraine, almost completely without power after the 15 raids on energy infrastructureaccording to regional governor Oleh Syniehubov. Almost 700,000 households were left without electricity.

Moscow refers to retaliation

The Russian Ministry of Defense stated that its latest wave of attacks on Ukrainian infrastructure is part of the retaliation aimed at punishing Kiev for its previous incursions into Russian territory.

The ministry said in a statement that it had successfully hit a number of targets in the power supply network, railway junctions and ammunition depots. The Russian Defense Ministry also said that Russian forces took control of the village of Mirne in Ukraine’s Zaporizhia region.

For his part, an official in Ukraine’s general prosecutor’s office said that Russia hit Ukraine’s biggest damthe DniproHES in southern Zaporizhia, eight times during the night attack.

“The hydroelectric station alone was hit eight times”Yury Belusov, head of the war department at the general prosecutor’s office, told state television.

The same time, the death toll from the mass strikes launched by Russia in Ukraine on the night of Thursday to Friday it increased to 5, as reported by the Ukrainian authorities.