•Updated
13:45
Every year since 2022, Russia has tried to cripple the Ukrainian power grid ahead of winter, hoping to erode morale and disrupt military manufacturing.
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Russia seriously damaged one of Ukraine’s thermal power plants in an overnight attack, authorities said on Wednesday, as Moscow continues to pursue its annual campaign to cut Ukrainians off from heat, light and running water as winter approaches.
Two workers were injured in the attack, according to Ukraine’s biggest electricity operator, DTEK. The company provided no further information, such as the location of the plant that was hit.
Ukrainian authorities generally release few details about routine Russian strikes on its power grid in order not to give away intelligence to the enemy.
Russia also struck energy infrastructure in the northern Chernihiv, southern Kherson and southeastern Dnipropetrovsk regions, authorities said.
Ukraine’s air force said it intercepted or jammed 154 out of 183 Russian strike and decoy drones fired at the country.
The energy sector has been a key battleground since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of its neighbour in February 2022.
Every year since, Russia has tried to cripple the Ukrainian power grid ahead of the bitter winter, hoping to erode public morale and disrupt military manufacturing.
Ukraine has accused Moscow of weaponising winter.
Ukraine’s winter runs from late October until March, with January and February usually the coldest months.
Ukraine, meanwhile, has been conducting long-range strikes on the Russian energy supply, recently causing outages in some Russian regions along the border.
The Russian defence ministry said on Wednesday that its air defences intercepted 53 Ukrainian drones over nine Russian regions overnight into Wednesday.
At least three people were killed in Ukrainian “rocket fire” in Russia’s Belgorod region, Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said.
A sports facility and two apartment buildings were hit by the strikes, which injured several people.
