Following the destruction of the entire power plant on Thursday, a senior presidential adviser acknowledged that Ukraine’s air defenses were being overwhelmed by a barrage of Russian bombing targeting the plant.
Mykhailo Podlyak said the Russian government is adopting new tactics to bypass Patriot and other missile shields already in place and attack power plants with up to “10 to 12 missiles at a time.” Stated.
“The system is overloaded,” Podoljak said in an interview. “Now we have to see whether we can keep the systems operational, whether we need more air defense systems, especially against anti-supersonic ballistic missiles, and whether we can restore the destroyed facilities. ”
The Trypilska coal and gas-fired power plant south of Kyiv was destroyed on Thursday by Russian bombing after a fire broke out in its turbine hall, operator Centrenergo said.
The energy company announced that no employees were killed, but that it had lost 100% of its power generation capacity. “The scale of the destruction is horrifying,” said chairman Andriy Gota. The attack occurred three weeks after the same company lost its Zmiiv power plant to Russian bombing near the city of Kharkiv.
People who lived near the fossil fuel plant say the site came under multiple missile attacks shortly before 5 a.m. Thursday, starting a fire that took several hours to extinguish and the main building near the central Dnipro River. It is said to be a charred ruin overlooking a lake. .
The destruction left nearby towns without a source of winter heating. In Ukraine, many households rely on community systems for winter warmth.
Anatole Shevchenko, a garage worker who lives a few miles from the power plant, said he and his wife counted six explosions. He said it was a relief that the attack occurred in early April. It was the end of winter, and the weather was unusually warm, with maximum temperatures in the mid-20s. But if Russia succeeds, he said, “summer is not the answer because in the summer the electricity supply will be cut off and the refrigerators will not work.”
Petro Olekseyevci, who lives in nearby Ukraine, said people feared the power plant could not be repaired given the scale of the damage, but Gota said Friday that although it was theoretically possible, , stated that there is no point unless air defense is improved.
Podlyak said Ukraine urgently seeks support from allies to more effectively deal with the threat, although Kiev has not yet exhausted its U.S.-made Patriot and German-made Iris-T air defense missiles. He said critical ammunition was in short supply. “They’re definitely in the red,” he said.
Ukraine said it had destroyed 57 of the 82 missiles and drones launched by Russia in Wednesday night’s massive attack, a relatively low rate by Kiev standards. Two gas storage facilities owned by Naftogaz and two other power plants owned by private power generation company Dtek were also targeted.
Russian President Vladimir Putin told Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko at a summit late Thursday that the attacks in Ukraine were a direct response to drone attacks on refineries in the country. “Unfortunately, we have recently experienced a series of strikes at our energy facilities, which has forced us to respond,” Putin said.
“The energy attack is partially connected to one of the challenges we have set for ourselves, namely the solution to demilitarization,” Putin said, adding that the timing of the attack would be in the spring instead of the winter “out of humanitarian considerations.” It added that it had been set.
Ukraine has carried out more than a dozen drone strikes against Russian oil refineries and related facilities, aimed at disrupting the invaders’ economy. But this week, U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin publicly warned that such an attack could have “ripple effects” on global energy prices, warning Kiev of “any potential direct impact on the current conflict.” He asked them to focus on a certain goal.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy believes 25 Patriot missile defense systems are needed to protect all of Ukraine. There are currently at least two people in Kiev, but the exact number is unknown. Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba has been asked to urgently find seven, and he hopes to identify 100 held by Western countries and get donations from them.
Podlyak said Western countries needed to understand that Russia was “waging a war against civilians” and complained of a lack of condemnation from the international community. “The Russians have completely destroyed one of the largest thermal power plants in Europe. But we do not see any resolution from the Security Council of the United Nations or any such declaration,” he said.
Homes and businesses in and around Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second largest city, suffered repeated power outages this spring due to near-daily Russian bombing. On Thursday, a series of rockets were fired into the Kharkiv region, where it was reported that 200,000 homes were without power.
Ukraine’s overall position has deteriorated significantly since the start of the year, after US military aid dried up and House Republicans allied with Donald Trump refused to vote on a $60 billion aid package for Ukraine. The frontline town of Avdiivka was lost in February, but there are increasing numbers of successful missile attacks outside the capital.
Podoljak was perplexed by the lack of military aid from the United States, calling it a “strange situation for us.” Funding to Ukraine is a sign of “America’s reputation as a world leader,” he said, and even reluctant Republicans should appreciate that funding to Ukraine is an “investment” in that position. said.
