Russia continues slamming Ukraine’s power grid

Russia launched yet another strike on Ukrainian power plants early Thursday morning, Ukraine’s armed forces said. Critical infrastructure was attacked with nine missiles and 27 drones, according to a Facebook post by Ukraine’s General Staff account. Military forces shot down five of the missiles and all the drones, according to a translation of the post. Still, the nighttime attack damaged power facilities across four regions and marked the seventh strike at Ukraine’s power grid since March, Ukrainian energy company Ukrenergo said.

Ukrenergo added that seven facility workers were injured in the attacks and were hospitalized, with one in serious condition. The utility said the attacks will result in widespread blackouts for energy conservation. Ukraine has been importing energy from Romania, Slovakia, Poland, Hungary, and Moldova since Russia increased its attacks on power plants.

How has Russia responded? Moscow confirmed the attacks, which it said were in response to Ukraine attacking Russian energy facilities, according to a social media post by its Defense Ministry. Russia hit all of its targets, the ministry added, according to a translation of the post.

Dig deeper: Read Lauren Canterberry’s report in The Sift on Russia and North Korea signing a mutual defense pact.