Russia has changed its attack tactics on Ukraineʼs energy infrastructure — it now uses high-precision missiles to destroy power plants in areas that are less protected by air defense systems.
This is stated in the article of the Financial Times with reference to Ukrainian officials.
The damage from the Russian attacks is now worse than in the winter of 2022/23, and the obvious goal of the occupiers is now to cause irreparable damage.
In the period from March 22 to 29, Russia attacked seven thermal power plants — in regions other than Kyiv, where the largest air defense system is concentrated. Russian missiles also hit two hydroelectric plants.
The details of the damage are unknown, but some facilities, such as in Kharkiv, were almost completely destroyed.
"Our goal is to restore as much as possible by October," said DTEK CEO Maksym Tymchenko. The company lost about 80% of the electricity it produced as a result of the Russian attacks. Five thermal power plants of DTEK had to stop work.
According to Tymchenko, if it were not for the warm weather, the import of energy carriers from the EU and the increase in the production of renewable energy, Ukraine would have faced massive power outages.
Last winter, Russia attacked distribution stations and transformers across the country. But now, the general director of DTEK noted, missiles are aimed at power plants in specific regions in order to "destroy them completely, because it is impossible to restore power plants in a short period of time."
"The same number of missiles that were used during the winter attacks in 2022-23 are now aimed at five or six energy facilities in one region. They are trying to disconnect large industrial areas and cities from energy supply," Ukrenergo said.
Another important difference from last yearʼs attacks is that Russia is now using expensive high-precision ballistic missiles, said Andrii Gerus, chairman of the parliamentary energy committee. In addition, the Russian Federation still uses a large number of drones.
Ukrainian military intelligence official Andriy Chernyak says Russia has enough missiles for one or two more major attacks in the coming weeks.
Attacks on the Ukrainian energy industry
On March 22, the Russian occupiers launched the largest combined attack on the Ukrainian energy system since the beginning of the full-scale invasion. There was a blackout in Kharkiv. The occupiers launched more than 60 drones and almost 90 missiles of various types across Ukraine. Air defense forces shot down 92 targets out of 151. Among other things, the occupiers hit the Dnipro HPP, but there is no threat of a dam breach. Both stations that are part of the Dnipro HPP (HPP-1 and HPP-2) stopped working, while HPP-2 suffered critical damage.
As a result of the attack, emergency and stabilization blackouts were introduced in Dnipropetrovsk, Odesa, and Donetsk region.
On the night of March 29, Russia launched a powerful air missile attack on the facilities of the fuel and energy sector of Ukraine. The Air Force of the Ukrainian Armed Forces reported that the enemy used various types of missiles and attack drones, a total of 99 means of air attack. Energy infrastructure was damaged in Dnipropetrovsk, Vinnytsia, Ivano-Frankivsk, Lviv, Cherkasy and Chernivtsi regions. The targets of the occupiers were also the Kaniv and Dniester hydropower plants located in the Cherkasy and Chernivtsi regions.