KYIV, Ukraine — Russia attacked electrical energy services in a lot of Ukraine, together with the nation’s largest hydroelectric plant, inflicting widespread outages and killing a minimum of three folks, officers mentioned Friday.
Vitality Minister German Galushchenko mentioned the nighttime drone and rocket assaults had been “the biggest assault on the Ukrainian power sector in current occasions. The aim is not only to wreck, however to attempt once more, like final 12 months, to trigger a large-scale disruption of the nation’s power system.”
The assaults triggered a hearth on the Dnipro Hydroelectric Station, which provides electrical energy to the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Energy Plant, Europe’s largest nuclear energy set up.
The principle 750-kilovolt energy line to the plant was minimize off, Worldwide Atomic Vitality Company head Rafael Grossi mentioned early Friday. A lower-power backup line was working, he mentioned.
The plant is occupied by Russian troops, and preventing across the plant has been a relentless concern due to the potential for a nuclear accident.
The dam on the hydroelectric station was not in peril of breaching, the nation’s hydroelectric authority mentioned. A dam breach couldn’t solely disrupt provides to the nuclear plant however would probably trigger extreme flooding just like what occurred final 12 months when a significant dam at Kakhovka additional down the Dnieper collapsed.
One particular person was killed and a minimum of eight injured within the Russian assault, mentioned Zaporizhzhia regional governor Ivan Fedorov.
Assaults on power services within the Kharkiv area triggered blackouts, and different assaults had been reported in areas of western Ukraine removed from the entrance strains. Two folks died within the Khmelnytskyi area, in response to the Inner Affairs Ministry.
“The world sees the targets of Russian terrorists as clearly as attainable: energy vegetation and power provide strains, a hydroelectric dam, bizarre residential buildings, even a trolleybus. Russia is preventing towards the bizarre life of individuals,” President Volodymyr Zelenskyy mentioned Friday on the Telegram messaging app.
Russian officers mentioned Friday that one particular person died and a minimum of three had been injured in Ukrainian shelling of areas close to the border.
The governor of the Belgorod area, Vyacheslav Gladkov, mentioned a girl was killed when a shell hit close by whereas she was strolling her canine and that two others had been injured. The city of Tetkino within the Kursk area was shelled, injuring one particular person, mentioned Gov. Roman Starovoit.
Each areas have been topic to shelling and drone assaults in current weeks and officers have mentioned that makes an attempt by Ukrainian fighters to cross into Russian territory have been repelled.
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Heintz reported from Tallinn, Estonia.