Russian forces have destroyed a large energy facility in Ukraine’s second-biggest city Kharkiv, the mayor said yesterday, the latest target of a winter air campaign by Moscow that has plunged millions of Ukrainians into darkness and cold.
Russia has attacked the power grid and other energy facilities while pressing a battlefield offensive that has left Kyiv on the back foot as it faces US pressure to secure peace.
Ihor Terekhov, writing on the Telegram messaging app, did not specify what sort of facility had been hit, but said emergency crews were on the scene and working around the clock.
Kharkiv, just 25 km from the Russian border, has been regularly targeted by drones, missiles and glide bombs throughout the war, which enters its fifth year next month.
Regional governor Oleh Synehubov said officials were still trying to assess the extent of damage from yesterday’s attack.
Power outages and cuts to heating and water in major cities have worsened over the past week as Ukraine struggles with a cold snap that has overwhelmed the already hobbled energy system.
Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko said yesterday that around 300 apartment buildings in the Ukrainian capital remain without heat after a January 9 attack knocked out heating to half the city’s high-rises.
Russia has also stepped up attacks on ports in Ukraine’s southern Odesa region. A missile strike yesterday injured one person and damaged shipping containers in the city of Chornomorsk, said deputy prime minister Oleksiy Kuleba.
Meanwhile, International Monetary Fund chief Kristalina Georgieva arrived in frosty, snow-covered Kyiv early yesterday for high-level talks as Ukraine prepared to mark the fourth anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion on February 24.
Central bank chief Andriy Pyshnyi greeted Georgieva in front of St Michael’s Golden-Domed Monastery in a square in central Kyiv, where burnt-out Russian tanks are on display. Together, they placed flowers at a memorial wall bearing portraits of thousands of Ukrainian soldiers killed while fighting Russia.
The IMF managing director met separately with Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko and Pyshnyi after her arrival, and is due to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy later in the day. She will also meet with business executives during the one-day visit, IMF officials said.
Georgieva’s visit to Ukraine was kept secret until her arrival in Kyiv due to security concerns.
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