Kyiv [Ukraine], April 28: Russian missiles pounded power facilities in central and western Ukraine on Saturday, increasing pressure on the ailing energy system as the country faces a shortage of air defences despite a breakthrough in U.S. military aid.
The air strike, carried out with long-range missiles, including cruise missiles fired by Russian strategic bombers based in the Arctic Circle, was the fourth large-scale aerial assault targeting the power system since March 22.
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy repeated a plea to partners for defensive missiles, notably the Patriot system. He said the targets included electricity and gas transit facilities, in particular those important for gas supply to the European Union, though he did not say whether any such facilities were damaged.
Russia continues to supply gas to the EU via Ukraine under a transit deal with Russia's Gazprom (GAZP.MM), opens new tab that is set to expire in December and which Ukraine says it does not plan to extend.
"The enemy again massively shelled Ukrainian energy facilities," said DTEK, Ukraine's largest private electricity company, adding that four of its six thermal power plants had suffered damage overnight.
Rescuers battled to put out fires at several energy facilities in the western regions of Lviv and Ivano-Frankivsk, which border NATO members Poland and Romania, officials said.
After strikes on energy facilities in the central Dnipropetrovsk region, running water supplies were disrupted in President Volodymyr Zelenskiy's hometown of Kryvyi Rih, officials said.
Ukrainian air defences brought down 21 of the 34 incoming missiles, the commander of the air force said in a statement.
None of the facilities hit was identified by name, a security measure intended to prevent Russia quickly assessing the impact of its strikes.
Zelenskiy said the trajectories and nature of the attack had been calculated to make preventing it as hard as possible. "Each downed rocket today is a significant result," he said.
Ukraine's state-run oil and gas firm Naftogaz said Russia had attacked its facilities but that no-one was hurt and supplies to Ukrainian consumers and clients were unaffected.
Russia, which began its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, denies targeting civilians but says the Ukrainian energy system is a legitimate military target. Ukrainian authorities said one energy worker was hurt overnight.
Source: Fijian Broadcasting Corporation
