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Russia launched a new barrage of missiles and drones at Ukraine on Wednesday, targeting gas infrastructure and other energy facilities in western regions in the latest blow to the country’s weakened power system as midwinter approaches.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russian forces launched more than 40 missiles during the morning attack and used more than 70 drones overnight. Ukrainian air defenses shot down at least 30 missiles, he said.
“Another massive Russian attack. It’s the middle of winter, and the target for the Russians remains unchanged: our energy infrastructure,” Zelenskyy said in a social media post on X.
“Among their targets were gas and energy facilities that maintain the normal life of our people.”
The capital, Kiev, was also hit, with hundreds of residents sheltering in underground metro stations across the city, sleeping on yoga mats and sitting on folding chairs with their pets.
The governor of Ukraine’s western Lviv region said that two power plants in the districts of Drohobych and Stryi were damaged. In neighboring Ivano-Frankivsk, the governor said air defenses are fending off Russian attacks on facilities.
Both said there were no reports of injuries.
Ukraine calls on allies for air defense assistance
Ukrainians use natural gas mainly for heating their homes and cooking. The country uses gas stored during the summer months for use in the winter, when daily production does not cover consumption.
Ukraine’s underground gas storage facilities are located in the western part of the country, including the Stryi area. Their role has grown since Kiev refused to extend the gas transit contract with Russia.
Since March 2024, Russia has stepped up its bombing of Ukraine’s power sector and other energy infrastructure, disabling half of the available generation capacity and forcing long-term blackouts across the country.
Ukrainian cities, businesses and residents rushed to install new generation capacity, including solar panels, batteries, generators and other equipment to increase their energy independence and survive the critical cold months.
Zelenskyy, who visited neighboring Poland on Wednesday, repeated pleas to Kiev’s Western allies to strengthen Ukraine’s air defenses.
“We also discussed licenses for the production of air defense systems and missiles for them, which could serve as one of the effective security guarantees for Ukraine. This is both realistic and necessary for implementation.”
Trump’s advisers do not expect a quick end to the war
The last days of Joe Biden’s administration have been marked by exuberant activity around the Ukraine file. Last week, the US announced an additional $500 million in military aid, including weapons and air defense systems.
The weapons are funded through the president’s withdrawal authority, which means they can be withdrawn directly from US stockpiles.
Washington has previously committed more than $63.5 billion in security assistance to Ukraine since the Russian invasion.
US President Joe Biden announced nearly $6 billion in additional military and budget aid to Ukraine, including about $2.5 billion in security assistance for the war-torn country. With Biden’s term ending in just a few weeks, the 82-year-old is using his final days in office to increase aid to Kiev before President-elect Donald Trump takes office.
President-elect Donald Trump’s advisers are now admitting that resolving the war in Ukraine will take months or even longer, a stark reality check on his biggest foreign policy promise — that he would reach a peace deal on his first day in the White House.
Two Trump aides, who have discussed the war in Ukraine with the president-elect, told Reuters they were looking at a deadline of several months to resolve the conflict, describing the first-day promises as a combination of campaign bragging and a lack of appreciation for the intractability of the conflict and the time it will take to resolve it. fill in the new administration.
Russia has also sent mixed signals about a possible peace deal, welcoming direct talks with Trump while rejecting some of the ideas floated by his advisers as unworkable.
Russia has made significant progress on the battlefield in recent months. While those gains have come at a heavy cost in terms of men and equipment, many analysts argue that President Vladimir Putin has an incentive to be slow to reach a deal as he tries to gain control of more Ukrainian territory.
John Herbst, a former US ambassador to Ukraine now at the Atlantic Council think tank in Washington, pointed to comments made earlier this month by Vasiliy Nebenzja, Russia’s ambassador to the United Nations, who said the peace plans put forward by Trump advisers were “nothing interesting. ”
The US also unveiled its broadest package of sanctions yet targeting Russia’s oil and gas revenues last week.
Meanwhile, Reuters reported on Tuesday that the European Commission intends to propose a ban on imports of Russian primary aluminum in its 16th package of sanctions against Russia over its war in Ukraine.
