The latest strikes have heightened concerns about Ukraine’s ability to maintain electricity and heating supplies as winter approaches. Zelenskyy accused Moscow of seeking to leave millions of Ukrainians without essential services by targeting the energy system.
Russia attacked more than 15 critical power generation and transmission facilities across Ukraine overnight, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Saturday, as Moscow intensified strikes on the country’s energy infrastructure ahead of winter. Between 7pm on Friday and 7am on Saturday, Russia launched more than 320 jet-powered and gasoline-powered Shahed drones, loitering munitions, cruise missiles and ballistic missiles against Ukraine’s energy sector, cities and communities, Zelenskyy said in a post on X.
Zelenskyy said Russia was trying to overwhelm Ukraine’s energy reserves and repair capacity by expanding its campaign against critical infrastructure. “Russia has expanded its campaign against the energy system and is trying to stretch Ukraine’s reserves and repair capacity as thinly as possible,” he said. Zelenskyy said Ukrainian forces had shot down a significant number of incoming weapons.
The attacks hit several western and central regions, prompting round-the-clock restoration efforts and raising fears of widespread power cuts. However, the scale and sustained pace of the attacks were causing serious damage to the country’s energy infrastructure.
Zelenskyy also criticised a decision in the United States to disregard the Lindsey Graham Act, which he said was intended to increase pressure on Russia and help bring the war to an end. “At a time when the Russians have carried out such a massive attack on our energy sector, a decision was unfortunately made in America to completely disregard the Lindsey Graham Act, which was supposed to impose truly effective pressure on Russia to bring this war to an end. This Act could have helped enormously – and still can! But it needs to actually work, and every voice in support of it matters.”