Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced that the Russian military fired thirty-six missiles at Ukrainian targets on Saturday.
“Many missiles were shot down by air defense, but several more hit energy facilities,” Zelensky wrote in the Telegram messaging app, urging major powers to help “stop this terrorism.”
According to the president’s office, about 1.5 million consumers of the state energy provider Okreno were without electricity.
Okrnirho reported numerous damages from Russian attacks in the western part of the country on Saturday. Authorities said a power plant in Lac was bombed and service was suspended.
Mihaglu Podoljak, an adviser to the Ukrainian president, wrote on Twitter that “by attacking Ukraine’s vital infrastructure, the Kremlin wants to provoke a new influx of refugees into Europe.” The only way to stop the humanitarian catastrophe is the rapid redeployment of air defense and new missiles.”
Ukrainian Prime Minister Denis Smyhal also warned to expect a new wave of refugees due to increased missile and drone attacks.
“If there is no more electricity, heating and water in Ukraine, it could cause migratory tsunamis,” the prime minister said in an interview published in the Sunday edition of the German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. To the German news agency dpa.
Simhal accused Moscow of “intenting to push Ukraine into a humanitarian catastrophe” by attacking civilian infrastructure.
For this reason, the Prime Minister requested mobile generators, heating and water treatment equipment. He also said, for now there is still fuel for generators, but in the event of a major power and heating outage, Ukraine will need more – among other things, electricity imported from the West – he said.
The governor of the Russian Belgorod region, bordering Ukraine, accused the Ukrainian army of launching a heavy artillery attack on the Sibykino settlement, in which two people were killed and 11 wounded. The power network was also damaged, said Vyacheslav Gladkov, and about fifteen thousand people were temporarily left without electricity, heating and water.
Belgorod, as well as the Kursk and Brazhnesk regions, have been complaining of attacks from Ukraine since the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24. According to the Belgorod governor, the situation has worsened in recent weeks.
Cover photo: Ukrinform/Future Publishing, Getty Images
