By Chris Summers
Russia launched a massive aerial bombardment of Ukraine’s energy infrastructure on Friday, involving dozens of cruise missiles and drones.
Kyiv’s energy minister, Herman Halushchenko, wrote on his Facebook page: “The enemy continues his terror. Again energy throughout Ukraine under a massive impact.”
Halushchenko warned people to stay in underground shelters until Friday’s attack was over.
He said energy workers were taking all necessary measures to minimize “negative consequences” for the country’s power grid, which has been a major target for Russia in recent weeks as it seeks to knock out heating and lighting just as the winter cold begins to bite.
The national grid operator, Ukrenergo, imposed further restrictions on power usage on Friday.
Ukraine has already suffered 11 attacks on its energy infrastructure this year, which have caused great damage and led to lengthy power cuts for the war-torn population.
Kyiv’s air force said Russia used air-launched ballistic Kinzhal missiles against targets in western Ukraine on Friday.
The local authorities reported multiple explosions in the capital, Kyiv, and the southern port city of Odesa.
Ukraine’s foreign minister, Andrii Sybiha, appealed to Western countries to deliver more air defense systems urgently.
‘Massive Russian Missile Attack’
Sybiha wrote on X: “Massive Russian missile attack on Ukraine this morning, primarily targeting the energy system. Russia aims to deprive us of energy. Instead, we must deprive it of the means of terror. I reiterate my call for the urgent delivery of 20 NASAMS, HAWK, or IRIS-T air defense systems.”
NASAMS (National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile System) is made by Norwegian aerospace firm Kongsberg, HAWK (Homing All the Way Killer) is a system built by Raytheon in the United States, and IRIS-T is a system manufactured by Saab in Sweden.
In September, the Ukrainian media reported that Spain’s defense ministry had promised to send a HAWK battery among a military aid package “in the next few weeks.”
Friday’s aerial attack came only hours after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, said Kyiv was not ready to start negotiations with Russia.
When asked whether Kyiv was ready for talks with the Kremlin, Yermak told a podcast from the Ukrainian media outlet Suspilne, “Not just yet today.”
Ukraine Wants ‘Clear Guarantees’
Yermak said: “We don’t have the weapons, we don’t have the status that we are talking about. And that means an invitation to NATO and an understanding of clear guarantees that would provide for us, so that we could be sure that Putin won’t be coming back in two or three years.”
Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, but the conflict had become a stalemate until August when Kyiv sent troops into Russia’s Kursk region.
But having withdrawn troops from its frontline in the Donbas, the Ukrainians have been put under substantial pressure by the Russians, who are now within a mile of the key city of Pokrovsk.
U.S. President-elect Donald Trump said during his election campaign that he would end the Russia–Ukraine conflict quickly and has suggested Kyiv should have made concessions to Moscow in the past.
Earlier this week, Zelenskyy said Ukraine wanted to end the war but said more effort was needed to strengthen his country.
He has also edged back from his previous position that talks could not get underway if Russia were still occupying Ukrainian territory.
Zelenskyy said he met with Trump while in Paris last week for the reopening of Notre Dame cathedral and that the president-elect repeated that he wanted a rapid end to the war.
Russia has rejected Kyiv’s demand that it should be allowed to join NATO and has also urged Zelenskyy to accept the Kremlin’s annexation of four regions—Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia oblasts.
The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
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