Ukraine’s national electricity operator cut off electricity on Wednesday after the country’s energy minister was hit by a “massive” missile attack.
Air raid sirens sounded in the capital Kyiv at around 5:45 a.m. as much of the country braced for missile launches. As people huddled in shelters for the third hour and the air force warned of incoming cruise missiles, Energy Minister Herman Galushenko announced emergency measures.
“Due to the mass attack, the transmission system operator applies preventive curtailment measures”, Mr. Galushenko, wrote in his statement on Facebook.
According to the national electricity operator Ukrenergo, six regions of the country, including Kharkiv in the northeast and Zaporizhzhya in the south, have experienced emergency power outages.
Russian forces have repeatedly targeted Ukraine’s energy infrastructure in winter campaigns to blackout and deplete the country.
The extent of Wednesday’s attack was not immediately clear. It came a day after Moscow’s threat take revenge Because Ukraine is said to be using Western-made long-range missiles to strike inside Russia.
