Russia pounds Ukraine energy facilities in latest 'mass' attack

A Russian missile and drone barrage damaged a Ukrainian power plant and other energy facilities overnight, officials have said, the latest in a series of strikes that have pushed its grid to the brink.

"The enemy attacked several energy infrastructure facilities," the energy ministry said on Thursday, adding that the barrage of Russian projectiles targeted energy-linked sites in four regions, including the capital, without elaborating.

The targeted aerial barrages over recent months have crippled Ukrainian electricity generation capacity and forced officials to impose rolling blackouts and import supplies from neighbouring EU states.

Journalists in the capital heard air raid sirens ringing out over the capital in the early hours of Thursday.

DTEK, Ukraine's largest private energy company, said the aerial attacks had caused "serious damage" at one of its thermal power plants, and that three of its employees had been wounded in the attack.

"This is already the seventh mass attack on the company's thermal power plant in the last three months," the company said.

Vital infrastructure

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said that those attacks have halved generator capacity in the war-battered country compared to one year ago and urged allies to send more air defence systems to protect vital infrastructure.

DTEK's CEO Maxim Timchenko said that the power plant struck early on Thursday had already been damaged in previous attacks.

"We urgently need to close our skies or Ukraine faces a serious crisis this winter. My plea to allies is to help us defend our energy system and rebuild in time," he said.

There was no immediate comment from the Kremlin on the latest barrage but Moscow insists that its forces do not target civilian infrastructures.

The Russian defence ministry has, however, acknowledged retaliatory attacks on energy sites in response to a wave of Ukrainian cross-border attacks on Russian oil facilities, mainly storage sites.

The Russian defence ministry said it had downed 15 Ukrainian drones that also targeted oil storage depots in the southern Adygea republic and in the Tambov region.