2024-04-12 11:21:38
A massive Russian missile and drone attack destroyed one of Ukraine’s largest power plants and damaged others, Ukrainian officials said today, as cited by the Associated Press.
The agency described the attack as part of a renewed Russian campaign targeting Ukraine’s energy infrastructure.
The Trypolska TPP, which is the largest supplier of energy to Kyiv, Cherkassy and Zhytomyr regions, was hit multiple times, destroying the transformer, turbines and generators and engulfing the plant in flames. When the first drone approached, the workers took cover for their lives, said Andrii Hota, director of the state-owned company Centrenergo, which runs the plant.
They watched as the plant burned, engulfed in thick smoke and engulfed in flames. “It’s terrifying,” says Hota.
Hours later, rescuers were still clearing the debris.
The plant supplied power to 3 million customers, but none were left without power as the grid was able to compensate as demand is low at this time of year. However, the effects of the strikes may be felt in the coming months, as the use of air conditioners increases in the summer, AP notes.
At least 10 other strikes overnight damaged energy infrastructure in Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city. The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Dmytro Kuleba, announced that more than 200,000 people in the region were left without electricity, BTA reported.
Ukraine’s largest private energy operator, DTEK, described the series of strikes as one of the most powerful attacks this year, and Energy Minister Herman Halushchenko told reporters that it was a “large-scale, powerful missile attack that affected many seriously our energy sector”.