Russia attacks Ukrainian energy sector as kyiv launches drones against Russia

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kyiv, Ukraine – Russia launched a barrage of missiles into Ukraine overnight, in attacks that appeared to target the country’s energy infrastructure. Meanwhile, Russia said its air defense systems had intercepted more than 60 Ukrainian drones over the southern Krasnodar region.

Ukraine’s air force said on Saturday that Russia had launched 34 missiles at Ukraine overnight, of which 21 had been shot down by Ukrainian air defences.

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In a post on Telegram, Energy Minister Herman Halushchenko said energy facilities in Dnipropetrovsk in the south of the country and Ivano-Frankivsk and Lviv in the west had been attacked and that an engineer was injured.

Private energy operator DTEK said four of its thermal plants were damaged and there were “casualties”, without going into details.

Earlier this month, Russia destroyed one of Ukraine’s largest power plants and damaged others in a massive missile and drone attack as it renewed its efforts to attack Ukraine’s energy facilities.

Ukraine has asked its Western allies for more air defense systems to protect itself from such attacks. At a meeting of the Ukrainian Defense Contact Group on Friday, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin announced that the United States will provide Ukraine with additional ammunition and equipment for its air defense launchers.

Further east, a psychiatric hospital was damaged and one person was injured after Russia launched an overnight missile attack on Ukraine’s second-largest city, Kharkiv. Photographs from the scene showed a huge crater on the center grounds and patients taking shelter in the hallways. Regional governor Oleh Syniehubov said a 53-year-old woman was injured.

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Also in the Kharkiv region, a man was killed in a night attack on the city of Vovchansk, according to the State Emergency Situations Service of Ukraine.

In Russia, the Defense Ministry said Russian air defense systems had intercepted 66 drones over the Krasnodar region in the south of the country. Two more drones were shot down over the Crimean peninsula, annexed by Moscow.

Krasnodar Region Governor Veniamin Kondratyev said Ukrainian forces attacked an oil refinery and infrastructure facilities, but there were no casualties or serious damage. The regional department of the Ministry of Emergency Situations reported that during the attack a fire broke out at the Slavyansk oil refinery in Slavyansk-on-Kuban.

Ukrainian officials normally decline to comment on attacks on Russian soil, but Ukraine’s Energy Ministry said on Saturday that two oil refineries in the Krasnodar region had been attacked by drones.

Five people were injured in a drone attack on a border village in Russia’s Belgorod region, regional governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said.

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