A crater sits next to a damaged emergency vehicle following a drone attack in Kharkiv, on April 4, 2024, amid the ongoing Russian-Ukrainian conflict. (Sergey Bobok, AFP via Getty Images/TNS)
(Tribune News Service) — Russian forces stepped up their attacks on Ukraine’s second-largest city overnight as part of a recent campaign against the country’s power infrastructure that has surpassed the intensity of similar barrages last year.
“Russians are trying to leave certain large cities without power,” Ukrenergo CEO Volodymyr Kudrytskyi said at a briefing in Kyiv.
Russian forces targeted Kharkiv with a barrage of explosive-laden Shahed drones, with some of them evading air defenses. Four people were killed, and at least 12 wounded, regional governor Oleh Synehubov said Thursday on Telegram.
As part of those attacks, energy infrastructure was also damaged in the region, Kudrytskyi said without specifying what had been hit. Ukraine was forced to apply emergency power cuts to 350,000 households in Kharkiv and the surrounding region on Thursday, as well as in neighboring Dnipropetrovsk region, the Energy Ministry said separately on Telegram.
The recent missile and drone attacks against Ukraine’s energy system, which began on March 22, have been much more intense than last year, according to Kudrytskyi. Russian President Vladimir Putin’s forces are attempting to damage Ukraine’s potential to generate and transport electricity, while also trying to disrupt power supply to Kharkiv, Odesa, and Kryvyi Rih, he said.
Drones in the latest barrage damaged apartment blocks in the city, the National Police said. Three of those killed were rescue workers who arrived at the site of the attack shortly before a second strike targeted the area. Ukraine downed 11 drones out of the 20 fired by Russia overnight, most of them targeting Kharkiv, the country’s Air Force command said on Telegram.
In the neighboring Dnipropetrovsk region, a solar power plant was hit, the ministry said.
Russian troops have stepped up their use of highly destructive guided bombs, missiles and drones against Kharkiv, which lies close to the border with Russia, as Putin, emboldened by Kyiv’s growing deficit of ammunition and manpower, is betting he can force Ukraine into submission.
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