ithin the last few days Russia launched its "most powerful blow" against Ukraine's energy sector so far this year, according to the private energy company, DTEK. The combined missile and drone strikes which targeted power plants and infrastructure in Kyiv and multiple locations left the system operating with "serious restrictions", it said.
The strikes were launched as temperatures dropped to -20C (-4F) and left more than 1,000 tower blocks in the capital without heating once again and damaged a power plant in the eastern city of Kharkiv beyond repair. President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russia was "choosing terror and escalation" rather than diplomacy to end this war and called for "maximum pressure" on Moscow from Ukraine's allies.
The attack comes after a so-called "energy truce" agreed by Donald Trump with Vladimir Putin expired.
Russian airstrikes have now partially or completely destroyed much of Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, and Russia-occupied areas have separated Ukraine from a sizeable portion of its oil, natural gas, and coal reserves, particularly in the Dnieper-Donetsk region and the contested Black Sea region off the Crimean Peninsula.
Ukraine’s power shortage is so desperate that the nation's energy minister Shmyhal urged businesses to switch off their illuminated signage and exterior decorations to save electricity.
“If you have spare energy, better give it to people,” the energy minister said. “This is the most important thing today. People will be grateful.”
Ukraine has introduced emergency measures, including temporarily easing curfew restrictions to allow people to go whenever they need to public heating centres set up by the authorities, Shmyhal said. He said hospitals, schools and other critical infrastructure remain the top priority for electricity and heat supplies.
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