Russian Airstrikes Destroy Electricity Facilities To Ukrainian Gas

ILLUSTRATION/Ukraine military during an attack on Russia/PHOTO via Instagram @zelenskyy_official

JAKARTA - Russia launched a new missile and drone strike in today's attack on Ukraine. The attacks damaged energy facilities in the southeast and west and injured two energy workers.

National electricity grid operator Ukrenergo said equipment at its facilities in the Zaporizhia region in the southeast and the Lviv region in the west were damaged in a major second week of attack.

Two energy workers in the Zaporizhia area were injured and taken to the hospital, he said.

A Russian attack also hit gas infrastructure facilities in the western part of the country, the energy ministry said.

"After eight massive attacks by the enemy against the power system since March, the situation in the energy sector is still difficult," the ministry said in a statement.

Ukraine will import electricity at 33,559 megawatt-hours (MWh) which hit record highs after the attack, the ministry said.

The government must also expand its scheduled power outages for several hours across the country.

In western Ukraine, in the city of Ivano-Frankivsk, Russian attacks damaged oil and gas university buildings as well as 14 other commercial and housing buildings, the mayor said.

We can say with certainty: the enemy will not stop. Ukraine needs an air defense system, said Ivan Fedorov, regional governor of Zaporizhia, via the Telegram messaging app.

Moscow said its airstrikes against Ukraine's energy infrastructure were retaliation for the Ukrainian drone strike on Russian territory.