Russia launched a new missile and drone attack on Ukraine on Wednesday, targeting gas infrastructure and other energy facilities in western regions. This is the latest attack on the country’s crippled power grid as it approaches midwinter.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russian forces fired more than 40 missiles during the morning attack and used more than 70 drones overnight. Ukrainian air defenses shot down at least 30 rockets, he said.
“Another massive Russian attack. It is the middle of winter and the Russians’ goal remains unchanged: our energy infrastructure,” Zelensky said in a social media post on X.
“Among their goals were gas and energy facilities that would enable our people to live a normal life.”
The capital Kyiv was also attacked. Hundreds of residents took shelter in underground subway stations across the city, sleeping on yoga mats and sitting on folded chairs with their pets.
The governor of Ukraine’s western Lviv region said two energy facilities in Drohobych and Stryi districts were damaged. In neighboring Ivano-Frankivsk, the governor said air defenses were repelling Russian attacks on facilities.
Both said no injuries were reported.
Ukraine asks its allies for help with air defense
Ukrainians use natural gas mainly for heating homes and cooking. The country uses the gas stored in the summer months for the winter when daily production does not cover consumption.
Ukraine’s underground gas storage facilities are located in the west of the country, including in the Stryi region. Their role has grown since Kiev refused to extend a gas transit agreement with Russia.
Since March 2024, Russia has increased its bombing of Ukraine’s energy sector and other energy infrastructure, knocking out half of its available generation capacity and causing long, prolonged power outages across the country.
Ukrainian cities, businesses and residents rushed to install new power generation capacity, including solar panels, batteries, generators and other equipment, to increase their energy independence and survive the critical cold months.
Zelensky, who visited neighboring Poland on Wednesday, repeated his requests for Kiev’s Western allies to strengthen Ukraine’s air defenses.
“We also discussed licenses for the production of air defense systems and missiles for them, which could serve as one of the effective security guarantees for Ukraine. This is both realistic and necessary to implement.”
Meanwhile, Russia and Ukraine exchanged 25 prisoners of war following negotiations mediated by the United Arab Emirates, a Russian Defense Ministry statement said.
Trump advisers do not expect a quick end to the war
The final days of Joe Biden’s administration were marked by hectic activity in the Ukraine affair. Last week, the US announced an additional $500 million in military aid, including weapons and air defense systems.
The weapons are funded through presidential withdrawal authority, meaning they can be taken directly from U.S. stockpiles.
Washington had already pledged more than $63.5 billion in security aid to Ukraine since the Russian invasion.
US President Joe Biden announced nearly $6 billion in additional military and budget aid to Ukraine, including about $2.5 billion in security aid for the war-torn country. With Biden’s term ending in just weeks, the 82-year-old is using his final days in office to boost aid to Kyiv before President-elect Donald Trump takes power.
Aides to President-elect Donald Trump now acknowledge that it will take months or even longer to resolve the Ukraine war. It’s a sharp reality check for his biggest foreign policy promise – striking a peace deal on his first day in the White House.
Two Trump aides who discussed the war in Ukraine with the president-elect told Reuters they were considering a time frame of months for resolving the conflict, describing day one promises as a combination of campaign bluster and lack thereof Appreciation of the conflict The persistence of the conflict and the time needed to fill a new administration.
Russia has also sent mixed signals about a possible peace deal, welcoming direct talks with Trump while dismissing some of the ideas put forward by its advisers as unworkable.
Russia has made significant progress on the battlefield in recent months. While those gains came at huge costs in personnel and materials, many analysts argue that President Vladimir Putin has an incentive to move forward slowly on a deal as he tries to gain control of more Ukrainian territory.
John Herbst, a former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine now at the Atlantic Council think tank in Washington, pointed to comments earlier this month by Vasily Nebenzya, Russia’s ambassador to the United Nations, who said that the peace plans put forward by Trump’s advisers ” nothing interesting.”
Last week, the US also unveiled its most comprehensive package of sanctions to date against Russia’s oil and gas revenues.
Meanwhile, Reuters reported on Tuesday that the European Commission plans to propose a ban on imports of Russian primary aluminum in its 16th sanctions package against Russia over its war in Ukraine.
