In apparent retaliation for its soldiers being routed in the east, Russia detonated Ukrainian power plants overnight, plunging a third of the country in the darkness.
Mykhailo Podolyak, advisor to President Zelensky, reported that strikes on Kharkiv’s largest electric plant caused power outages in Kharkiv, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia, Dnipropetrovsk, and Sumy. Separate strikes took off water supplies.
Mr. Podolyak termed it ‘a cowardly response to the retreat of [Russia’s] own army,’ while Mr. Zelensky vowed: ‘Cold, hunger, darkness, and thirst – for us, they are not as frightening and lethal as your “friendliness and fraternity.”
But history will arrange everything. And we shall have fuel, electricity, water, and food… without you!’
It occurred after Ukraine’s army launched a spectacular counterattack east of Kharkiv over the weekend, smashing through poorly maintained Russian lines, routing Putin’s men, and seizing almost 2,000 square miles of terrain.
Overnight, Russian missiles targeted Ukraine’s power plants, plunging around one-third of the country into darkness.
After being struck by Russian missiles, the largest power station in Kharkiv and one of the largest in Ukraine is engulfed in flames.
Ukraine says that Russia’s military assaulted civilian targets overnight in’revenge’ for the humiliating defeat its soldiers suffered in the east.
As of Monday morning, Ukraine controlled Kup’yans’k – a critical logistical hub with railways used to supply its soldiers in Donbas – Izyum – the launching point for the Donbas advance – and Vovchansk – just a few kilometres from the Russian border.
A commander whose forces participated in the operation, Petro Kuzyk, told the Financial Times that the Russians left so quickly that dinners were still on the tables when his troops arrived.
“We hoped for triumph but did not anticipate such cowardice,” he remarked. They abandoned their tanks and equipment, and even seized bicycles in order to flee.
The fact that the Russian army is severely decimated facilitated our efforts; they bolted like Olympic sprinters.
Analysts have lauded the stunning maneuver as one of the greatest counteroffensives in recent history, which will be studied for decades.
It puts Russia’s soldiers throughout the entire eastern front in jeopardy of being routed, heaps pressure on troops waging a second Ukrainian counter-offensive in the south, and puts Vladimir Putin in a position where he faces the real possibility of a comprehensive defeat in Ukraine.
In the middle of the power outages, Zelensky warned Putin, “Even through the impenetrable darkness, Ukraine and the rest of the civilized world can observe these terrorist deeds.”
“Deliberate and malicious missile attacks against civilian infrastructure” Absolutely no military facilities.
In apparent retaliation for its most recent military humiliation, Russia targeted power stations with missiles, leaving a third of Ukraine without energy overnight.
Firefighters battle blazes at Kharkiv’s main power plant, which was destroyed by a Russian missile strike Sunday night.
Firefighters extinguish blazes at one of Ukraine’s main power plants, which was destroyed overnight by a Russian missile strike.
“Do you still believe we are a single people?” Do you still believe you can terrify, break, and motivate us? Do you genuinely not comprehend anything?
“Don’t recognize who we are? Why are we here? What are we discussing? Follow my lead: Without gasoline or you? Without you, we would be lost.
“Without illumination or you? Without you, we would be lost.
“Waterless or without you? Without you, we would be lost.
“Without nourishment or without you? Without you, we would be lost.
“For us, cold, hunger, darkness, and thirst are not as frightening or lethal as your “friendship and fraternity.”
But history will arrange everything. And without you, we will have gas, electricity, water, and food!’
Videos depict strikes that resulted in power outages that left about one-third of Ukraine in the darkness.
Additional footage depicted a walkout at a critical power plant in the Kharkiv region and a shutdown of the city’s subway system.
Smoke erupts over power plants on the outskirts of Kharkiv as a result of Russian attacks dubbed “coward’s revenge” following its most recent wartime loss.
Ukraine says that power was restored a few hours after the bombings, and Zelesnky has sworn that the attacks will not demoralize his people.
At a power facility in Vilnohirsk, Dnipropetrovsk region, flames were observed.
The US ambassador to Ukraine, Bridget Brink, condemned the attacks, calling them Putin’s apparent retaliation to Ukraine’s liberation of eastern cities and villages.
Russia had attempted to destroy vital civilian infrastructure with missile attacks.
According to Russian sources, the strikes on the major thermal power facilities in eastern and central Ukraine – Kharkovskaya and Zmievskaya in the Kharkiv region – led to a lack of generating capacity.
The plants furnish Ukrainian homes with central heating, hence the strike was intended to hurt civilians.
“The collapse of the power grid has spread to the networks of Kharkiv, Sumy, Dnepropetrovsk, Zaporozhye, and Odessa,” the pro-war Rybar station reported.
It also hit Donetsk territories controlled by the Ukrainian Armed Forces, the Kyiv region, and the country’s capital.
Electric trains stopped “almost everywhere in the country,” and in Poltava, numerous trolleybuses caught fire on the streets, according to a pro-war Telegram channel that echoed calls from other extremists for more brutal attacks.
There are claims that scared Russian troops have abandoned tanks, guns, and supplies within 30 miles of the border as a result of a Ukrainian counteroffensive.
A Ukrainian soldier passes by a battle-damaged Russian tank on the route to Balakleya in the Kharkiv region of Ukraine, as the territory was recently liberated.
This image collected from social media and published on September 11 depicts a group of Ukrainian soldiers standing in Hoptivka, Ukraine, during Russia’s invasion of the country.
This measure is a good signal to hotheads who make inflammatory statements in the context of the success of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the Kharkiv region.
Therefore, the impact on the enemy’s vital infrastructure must continue.
Not only at substations and thermal power plants, but also on the Dnieper’s bridges.
In the greatest loss for Moscow’s forces since they were expelled from the borders of Kiev in March, thousands of Russian soldiers abandoned ammunition and equipment as they fled the city of Izium, which served as a logistics hub for Putin’s forces.
Margarita Simonyan, a Putin supporter, posted: “What happened to your energy and light, neighbors?
Amidst the overwhelming defeat in Kharkiv region, Russian state television propagandists began to assign blame for the war’s collapse.
Boris Nadezhdin, a former member of parliament, told viewers bluntly: ‘Those who persuaded President Putin that the special operation would be swift and effective, that we wouldn’t target the civilian population, and that our National Guard would restore order truly set us all up.’