An extensive attack using missiles and drones has caused significant damage to a major power plant in Ukraine and caused harm to others.This is part of Russia’s new campaign to damage energy sites.
The Trypilska plant, which provided a lot of electricity for Kyiv, Cherkasy, and Zhytomyr, was hit many times. This caused serious damage to the equipment and started a big fire at the plant. When the first drone came, the workers hid in a shelter to stay safe and alive. This was said by Andrii Hota, who is the director of the state company that operates the plant, Centrenergo.
They saw the plant on fire with lots of smoke and flames all around it. “It’s really scary,” said Hota. Hours later, the rescuers were still clearing away the rubble.
The plant gave electricity to 3 million people. None of them lost power because the grid could handle the low demand for electricity during this time of year. The effects of the strikes may still be noticed in the next few months, especially when people start using air conditioning more in the summer.
At least 10 other attacks last night damaged the power and gas systems in Kharkiv, which is the second biggest city in Ukraine. Dmytro Kuleba, the Foreign Minister, said that over 200,000 people in the area have no electricity because it has been hit many times.
DTEK, the biggest energy company in Ukraine, said the strikes were a really powerful attack. The Energy Minister, Herman Halushchenko, said it was a big missile attack that badly hurt our energy industry.
Russia has started attacking Ukrainian energy facilities again, and last month’s attacks caused a lot of the country to lose power. This hasn’t happened since Russia’s invasion in 2022.
The number and precision of the attacks have worried the people in charge of protecting the country and made officials rush to find better ways to defend energy sources. The strikes also showed if Ukraine can make fixes fast.
Ukraine’s leaders asked for more defense systems to protect against attacks from the air, but the supplies are taking a long time to arrive.
“Today, it shows that there are no more missiles to shoot down,” Hota said.