Russian attacks on Ukraine’s power grid intensify as winter approaches

Russia attacked Ukraine’s power grid overnight into Sunday, part of a continuing campaign to cripple Ukrainian energy infrastructure before winter. This came as Moscow expressed “extreme concern” over the United States potentially providing Tomahawk cruise missiles to Ukraine. Kyiv regional Governor Mykola Kalashnyk said two employees of Ukraine’s largest private energy company, DTEK, were wounded in Russian strikes on a substation in the region. Ukraine’s Energy Ministry said energy infrastructure was also attacked in the regions of Donetsk, Odesa, and Chernihiv. “Russia continues its aerial terror against our cities and communities, intensifying strikes on our energy infrastructure,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky wrote on social media, noting that Russia had launched “more than 3,100 drones, 92 missiles and around 1,360 glide bombs” against Ukraine over the past week. Zelensky also called for tighter secondary sanctions on buyers of Russian oil. “Sanctions, tariffs, and joint actions against the buyers of Russian oil – those who finance this war – must all remain on the table,” he wrote. US President Donald Trump said on Sunday that he may tell Russian President Vladimir Putin that he could supply Ukraine with the long-range Tomahawks if the war is not settled. Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One as he flew to Israel, Trump said he is looking to ensure Ukraine gets a fresh supply of weapons at the request of Zelensky. “They’d like to have Tomahawks. That’s a step up,” Trump said. The Ukrainian president had said on Saturday he had a “very positive and productive” phone call with Trump, in which he told the US president about Russian attacks on Ukraine’s energy system and opportunities to strengthen Ukraine’s air defence. A day earlier, Zelensky said he was in discussions with US officials about the possible provision of various long-range precision strike weapons, including Tomahawks. A senior Ukrainian delegation is set to visit the US this week. Trump said last week that before agreeing to provide Tomahawks he wants to know how Ukraine would use them because he does not want to escalate the war. Zelensky said he was still working on trying to convince Trump to approve a missile deal. “We count on such decisions, but we’ll see,” Zelensky said. Zelensky said Ukraine would only use Tomahawk missiles for military purposes and not attack civilians in Russia, should the US provide them. “We never attacked their civilians. This is the big difference between Ukraine and Russia,” the Ukrainian leader said on the Fox News Sunday Briefing programme. “That’s why, if we speak about long-range [missiles], we speak only about military goals.” Russian President Vladimir Putin said earlier this month that it was impossible to use Tomahawks without the direct participation of US military staff and so any supply of such missiles to Ukraine would trigger a “qualitatively new stage of escalation”. Still, Zelensky, in a Sunday evening address in Ukraine, said he saw Russia’s concerns as reason to press forward. “We see and hear that Russia is afraid that the Americans may give us Tomahawks – that this kind of pressure may work for peace,” Zelensky said. Meanwhile, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in remarks published on Sunday that “the topic of Tomahawks is of extreme concern”. “Now is really a very dramatic moment in terms of the fact that tensions are escalating from all sides,” he told Russian state television reporter Pavel Zarubin. Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, a close ally of Putin, also said in comments released on Sunday that he doubts the US will provide Ukraine with Tomahawk cruise missiles. “I think we need to calm down in this regard. Our friend Donald … sometimes he takes a more forceful approach, and then his tactic is to let go a little and step back. Therefore, we shouldn’t take this literally, as if it’s going to fly tomorrow,” he told Zarubin, who posted the comments on his Telegram channel on Sunday. Ukraine’s energy sector has been a major battleground since Russia launched its all-out invasion more than three years ago. The latest attacks on Ukraine’s energy grid came after Russian drone and missile strikes wounded at least 20 people in Kyiv, damaged residential buildings and caused blackouts across swathes of Ukraine on Friday, which Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko described as “one of the largest concentrated strikes” against Ukraine’s energy infrastructure. Each year, Russia has tried to cripple the Ukrainian power grid before the bitter winter season, apparently hoping to erode public morale. Winter temperatures run from late October until March, with January and February being the coldest months. Ukraine’s air force said on Saturday that its air defences intercepted or jammed 103 of 118 Russian drones launched against Ukraine overnight, while Russia’s defence ministry said it had shot down 32 Ukrainian drones over Russian territory. Additional reporting by Reuters

Russian attacks on Ukraine’s power grid intensify as winter approaches

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Trump said on Sunday he may tell Putin that he could supply Ukraine with long-range Tomahawk missiles if the war is not settled

Trump said on Sunday he may tell Putin that he could supply Ukraine with long-range Tomahawk missiles if the war is not settled