Russia strikes Ukraine energy infrastructure in new wave of attacks

Russia’s military targeted energy infrastructure hubs in the city of Dnipro in central Ukraine and the northeastern region of Kharkiv in a new wave of airstrikes, officials said. 

Ukrainian state energy company Naftogaz also said gas production facilities in eastern Ukraine were damaged or destroyed in the attacks.

The head of Ukraine’s presidential office, Andriy Yermak, called Russia’s latest attacks on energy infrastructure “naive tactics of cowardly losers.”

“Ukraine has already withstood extremely difficult strikes by the enemy, which did not lead to results the Russian cowards hoped for,” Yermak wrote in a Telegram post.

Russian airstrikes also hit a huge defense plant in Dnipro, Reuters noted, and targeted the Odessa region in southern Ukraine for the first time in weeks. 

Local authorities said that at least two people were killed and 19 others were wounded in all of the areas, according to Reuters.  

“This is everyday life in Ukraine now — because of Russian terror,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a statement. “That is why we put so much effort into getting modern air defense and anti-missile defense systems from our partners.” 

The latest attacks came a week after Kremlin officials announced that Russian military forces would retreat from the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson, citing challenges in supplying the tens of thousands of troops that were stationed in the city. Kherson was the first major Ukrainian city to be occupied by Russia. 

The new strikes also came two days after two people were killed in a missile blast in Poland. Initial reports indicated it was a Russian missile, but authorities now say they believe it came from Ukraine’s air defense system. 

Updated at 9:03 a.m.