Russia and Ukraine exchanged fresh strikes on critical energy infrastructure on Tuesday, just after the U.S. said it would lead a new round of negotiations between the two countries in the United Arab Emirates next week. Moscow carried out a "complex, massive attack" on energy facilities in 10 regions across Ukraine, including with 17 hard-to-intercept ballistic missiles and nearly 300 drones, Ukrainian officials said. Large power plants in the northeastern Kharkiv, central Dnipropetrovsk and western Vinnytsia regions were hit, according to Prime Minister Serhiy Koretskyi.
Ukraine's biggest private energy-generating company, DTEK, said the Russian attacks caused "extensive" damage and three of its thermal power plants stopped generating electricity. Emergency shutdowns were reported in at least six regions and power outages hit five regions, including southern Odesa, according to Ukraine's state-owned electricity transmitter. DTEK said one of its impacted plants was in Odesa.
Russia's Defense Ministry, acknowledging the attacks on Tuesday, said it struck two thermal power plants in Dnipropetrovsk, one in Vinnytsia and another, plus two electrical substations, in Kharkiv. A Russian strike on a hospital in Kharkiv injured 73 people and damaged the cardiology department, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said. Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov said more than 1,000 windows in the hospital and surrounding buildings were damaged.
The overnight bombardment came a day after at least 33 people were killed in a Russian attack on a former school building being used to distribute humanitarian aid in Zaporizhzhia, southern Ukraine, officials said. More than 40 others are missing. Meanwhile, the governor of Russia's Yaroslavl region, northeast of Moscow, said Ukraine launched a "large-scale" assault using around 124 drones on the oil refinery on the outskirts of the regional capital.
Two refinery workers were injured, Mikhail Yevrayev said in a post to messaging app Telegram. The refinery suffered unspecified damage and emergency services were battling blaze, Yevrayev said. Ukraine has resisted pressure from President Donald Trump to stop its campaign of strikes on Russian oil refineries.
The White House has been concerned in the run-up to Tuesday's midterm elections about the soaring price of diesel for U.S. consumers. The U.S.-led war against Iran, which began on February 28 and has rumbled on with no hint of a peace deal, caused fuel prices to skyrocket as Tehran imposed an effective blockade on the Strait of Hormuz, a vital energy chokepoint. Kyiv has homed in on Russian oil refineries to cut off the Kremlin from income sources feeding its war effort.
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