Russia attacks Ukraine energy system in major missile strike, Kyiv says By Reuters

KIEV (Reuters) – Russia attacked Ukraine’s energy system and cities in its eastern region with cruise and ballistic missiles on Wednesday morning, Ukraine’s energy minister and local officials said.

At least three people were injured in a rocket attack on Kharkiv in northeastern Ukraine on Wednesday morning, Mayor Ihor Terekhov said.

Ukraine’s air force said Kharkiv was hit by ballistic missiles, and the region’s governor, Oleh Sinyehubov, said on the Telegram messaging app that “damage was caused to civilian non-residential infrastructure.”

Separately, the governor of Dnipropetrovsk, Serhii Lisak, said on Telegram: “Since the morning, the Russian army is massively attacking the Dnipro region, trying to destroy the region’s energy system.”

Ukraine’s Energy Minister Herman Galushchenko said on Facebook (NASDAQ: ) that Russia is “carrying out massive attacks on the power sector” and that the transmission system operator has imposed restrictions on power supplies to minimize the impact.

Russia has intensified its attacks on Ukrainian energy since the spring of 2004, damaging almost half of its production capacity and causing several hours of blackouts across the country.

Earlier on Wednesday, the Ukrainian military declared an air alert across the country in response to the launch of Russian cruise missiles.

Local authorities and the Air Force reported missile launches in the eastern, central, southern and western regions.

In a previous massive missile attack on November 17, Russia launched 120 missiles and 90 drones, killing at least seven people and severely damaging the power grid.

Electricity distributor DTEK has imposed emergency blackouts for up to eight hours in large parts of Ukraine.