File photo: Emergency services personnel work to extinguish a fire following a Russian attack in Kyiv, Ukraine (Picture credit: AP)
Russia on Sunday launched a new wave of overnight strikes targeting Ukraine’s power grid, intensifying its campaign to cripple the country’s energy infrastructure ahead of winter. The attacks came as Moscow voiced “extreme concern” over the United States’ potential decision to supply Kyiv with Tomahawk cruise missiles.Kyiv regional governor Mykola Kalashnyk said two workers from Ukraine’s largest private energy company, DTEK, were injured when Russian strikes hit a substation in the area. The country’s energy ministry confirmed that facilities in Donetsk, Odesa, and Chernihiv were also targeted. “Russia continues its aerial terror against our cities and communities, intensifying strikes on our energy infrastructure,” President Volodymyr Zelenskyy wrote on X, saying Russia had launched “more than 3,100 drones, 92 missiles, and around 1,360 glide bombs” in the past week.Zelenskyy also urged Western nations to tighten sanctions against countries buying Russian oil, writing, “Sanctions, tariffs, and joint actions against the buyers of Russian oil – those who finance this war – must all remain on the table.” The Ukrainian president said he had a “very positive and productive” phone call with US President Donald Trump on Saturday, during which they discussed strengthening Ukraine’s air defences and addressing the latest wave of Russian attacks. A day earlier, Zelenskyy had told US officials that Kyiv was considering obtaining various long-range precision strike weapons, including Tomahawks and additional ATACMS missiles.Trump, who has been trying to broker a peace deal between Moscow and Kyiv, told reporters earlier this week that he had “sort of made a decision” on whether to send Tomahawks to Ukraine but declined to elaborate. According to news agency AP, a senior Ukrainian delegation is due in Washington this week for high-level talks.Meanwhile, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said on Russian state television that the issue of Tomahawk missiles was “of extreme concern.” “Now is really a very dramatic moment in terms of the fact that tensions are escalating from all sides,” he said.Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, a close ally of Vladimir Putin, downplayed the possibility of Washington transferring Tomahawks to Ukraine. “Our friend Donald … sometimes he takes a more forceful approach, and then his tactic is to let go a little and step back. Therefore, we shouldn’t take this literally, as if it’s going to fly tomorrow,” Lukashenko told Russian journalist Pavel Zarubin, as posted on Telegram.Power had been restored to more than 800,000 residents in Kyiv on Saturday, following the previous day’s massive strikes that wounded at least 20 people and caused widespread blackouts. Prime Minister Yuliia Svyrydenko called the assault “one of the largest concentrated strikes” against Ukraine’s energy infrastructure.Ukraine’s air force said it intercepted or jammed 103 of 118 Russian drones overnight, while Russia claimed to have downed 32 Ukrainian drones over its own territory. Each winter, Moscow has targeted Ukraine’s energy grid, seemingly aiming to sap public morale as temperatures drop from late October through March.As per AFP, during his call with Trump, Zelenskyy congratulated him for his “outstanding” ceasefire plan in the Middle East, urging him to apply similar diplomacy to Ukraine. “If a war can be stopped in one region, then surely other wars can be stopped as well,” Zelenskyy said, calling for Trump to pressure the Kremlin into real negotiations. Go to Source
