That Russia aims to use the elements of nature against Ukraine became amply clear when about 200 missiles and drones rained down in a massive attack on Ukraine’s power facilities on Thursday morning even as temperatures plunged to freezing point and below in many places in the war-ravaged country.
Reports said more than a million families shivered in the cold without electricity due to the disruption of supply. Like in other cold places, houses in Ukraine are heated with electricity. With the power supply being disrupted, drinking water supply also becomes a big problem.
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The attack—that came in waves—took place mainly in western Ukraine, quite a distance from the frontlines in its east. This is a region that had been only slightly affected by the ongoing 33-month-long war.
The barrage of attacks is in the backdrop of the Russian military making rapid advances into eastern Ukraine.
Russia had launched about 188 drones on the intervening night of Monday and Tuesday. But the Thursday morning attack scaled a new record in terms of drone usage.
Because of these attacks, the number of families without electricity is estimated to be 523,000 in Lviv, about 280,000 in the western part of Rivne and about 215,000 in the Volyn region in the northwest.
The attack was spread across the country with targets in Kyiv, Kharkiv, Khmelnytskyi, Lutsk and Odesa on the Black Sea.
On Thursday morning, Ukraine's Energy Minister German Galushchenko posted on social media saying that energy facilities were “under massive enemy attack”.
While Russian attacks on Ukrainian power facilities were launched in the past during the course of the ongoing conflict, what is significant is the broad geographical sweep and the number of platforms used for the aerial attacks.
Already about half of Ukraine’s energy facilities are devastated due to Russian attacks.
The Russian attack may be seen as retaliation for Ukrainian attacks on Russian territory with US-supplied ATACMS missiles.
Russia had already used a hypersonic missile for the first time in what could be a warning posture. The missile is capable of carrying nuclear warheads.
Ukrainians would worry about the power supply as the winter progresses, perhaps the thoughts would be even more wintry with President Donald Trump likely to assume the reigns of power on January 20.
