After Russia launched one of its biggest missile attacks since the start of the Ukraine war, Ukraine’s national energy provider Ukrenergo on Friday (December 16) warned citizens that it may take longer to restore electricity and power cuts may get longer. Russian missiles battered Ukrainian power grid yet again. This worsened already dire conditions for Ukrainians and provoked accusations of “war crimes” from the European Union.
The strikes knocked out water and electricity services in several regions in a country already enduring near freezing temperatures.
“Priority will be given to critical infrastructure: hospitals, water supply facilities, heat supply facilities, sewage treatment plants,” Ukrenergo said in a statement Friday.
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Residents of the capital wrapped in winter coats crammed into underground metro stations after air raid sirens rang out early Friday: the ninth wave of Russian aerial bombardments since October.
“I woke up, I saw a rocket in the sky,” Kyiv resident 25-year-old Lada Korovai said. “I saw it and understood that I have to go to the tube.”
“We live in this situation. It’s a war, it’s real war,” she told AFP.
Russia attacked Ukraine in February this year. After territorial gains in early months of the war, Russian forces had to retreat in the face of counteroffensive by Ukrainian forces. Russia has then resorted to carrying out missile attacks across Ukraine. Ukraine’s energy grid is badly damaged. Russia claims that it has attacked only ‘military-linked’ energy infrastructure.
(With inputs from agencies)
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