New Russian airstrikes cause emergency shutdowns across Ukraine
Russia has launched a further massive attack on Ukraine's energy system, targeting the power grid, power plants and substations, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Saturday."Last night's attack involved more than 400 drones and around 40 missiles of various types," Zelensky wrote on X.Damage was reported in the western Ukrainian regions of Volyn, Ivano-Frankivsk, Lviv and Rivne."Every day, Russia could choose real diplomacy, but it chooses new strikes," the president said, calling on supporters of the current US-mediated negotiation process to respond to the latest attacks.Moscow must be deprived of the opportunity to exert pressure on Ukraine with cold weather, Zelensky stressed, adding that Ukraine needs missiles for air-defence systems to achieve this.In neighbouring Poland, fighter jets took off in response to the attacks during the night.The necessary forces and resources had been mobilized, according to the operational command of the NATO member state's army. Ground-based air defence and radar systems had been put on standby.Airports in Rzeszów and Lublin in the east of the country had to temporarily suspend air traffic.Repeated power, water and heating outagesThe state utility company Ukrenergo announced that emergency shutdowns are in place in most Ukrainian regions due to the damage.This winter - Ukraine's coldest in several years - Russia is increasingly targeting its neighbour's energy system, which is already battered after almost four years of war.The result is repeated long outages in electricity, water and heat supplies as temperatures fell below minus 20 degrees Celsius in some parts of the country.
