Over 1m Ukrainians without power after major Russian assault on energy system

More than a million Ukrainians have been left without power after Russia launched one of its largest missile and drone attacks on the country’s energy infrastructure to date.

The Ukrainian air force said Russia had launched 88 missiles and 63 Iranian-made Shahed drones. Of them, 37 and 55 respectively were shot down, but others hit the country’s largest dam and caused blackouts in several regions, and killing at least five people.

The strikes came as the Kremlin stepped up its rhetoric over the conflict, saying that Russia was “in a state of war” in Ukraine and casting aside its usual depiction of the invasion as a “special military operation.”

Russia’s defence ministry said it launched the “massive” air strikes as revenge for Ukrainian attacks on its border regions over recent weeks.

Several major power facilities were hit in the south-eastern Dnipropetrovsk region, including the country’s largest dam and the Dnipro hydroelectric power plant, one of Europe’s biggest. Ukrainian authorities said there was no risk of a breach but a generating unit was in critical condition after dramatic images posted online showed a fire at the dam.

“The enemy is carrying out the largest-scale attack on the Ukrainian energy industry in recent times,” said the energy minister, German Galushchenko.

“The goal is not just to damage, but to try again, like last year, to cause a large-scale failure in the operation of the country’s energy system.”

Russia routinely struck Ukrainian power and hydroelectric plants, substations and heat generation facilities in the winter of 2022-23, leaving the average Ukrainian household without electricity for weeks, but the country appeared better prepared and able to shield its energy infrastructure in the early months of the second winter of the war. A delay in vital US aid has however significantly weakened Kyiv’s ability to withstand attacks.

Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, sharply criticised the continued uncertainty over western support. “Russian missiles have no delays, unlike aid packages for Ukraine,” Zelenskiy wrote on social media after Friday’s attacks.

“Shahed drones have no indecision, unlike some politicians. It is critical to understand the cost of delays and postponed decisions. Our partners know exactly what is needed. They can definitely support us. These are necessary decisions. Life must be protected from these savages from Moscow.”

The strikes came as there was anger in Ukraine over areport by the Financial Times that Washington had urged Kyiv to halt drone strikes on Russian energy infrastructure for fear of driving up global oil prices.

Ukraine has used domestically-produced drones to wreak havoc with Russia’s energy infrastructure since the start of the year. Attacks have led to the shutdown of several key Russian oil refineries deep inside the country that account for about 12% of Moscow’s refining capacity. The attacks have also led to a surge in oil prices, which have risen nearly 4% since 12 March.

Citing sources with knowledge of the matter, the Financial Times reported that US officials were worried that a further rise in the country’s petrol prices could weaken Joe Biden ratings and undermine his campaign to win a second term as president.

The report is likely to cause more friction between Kyiv and its western allies. Olha Stefanishyna, Ukraine’s deputy prime minister for European and Euro-Atlantic integration said that her country “understands the appeals of our American partners.”

“At the same time, we are fighting with the capabilities, resources and practices that we have today,” Stefanishyna said during the Kyiv Security Forum on Friday.

“Stop projecting fear! Ukraine should and will strike into Moscovian oil refineries. This is the most effective energy sanction so far,” wrote Daria Kaleniuk, the executive director of Ukraine’s Anti-Corruption Action Centre, on X.

The Kremlin’s rare use of the term “war” on Friday comes as Moscow seeks to increase domestic support for the Putin invasion while signalling to its population that it should gear up for a prolonged conflict

“It started as a special military operation,” the Kremlin’s spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, said. “But as soon as … the collective west became involved in this on the side of Ukraine, it became a war for us.”

The Kremlin has taken a notably more aggressive line towards the west since the French president, Emmanuel Macron, opened the door to sending European ground troops to Ukraine. Vladimir Putin has previously told Nato countries they risk provoking a nuclear war if they send troops to fight in Ukraine.

Macron told a summit of EU leaders in Brussels on Friday that anyone who thinks that Moscow will stop in the Donbas and Crimea is mistaken

Tatiana Stanovaya, a political analyst and founder of the political analysis firm R.Politik, said Peskov’s war comments signalled a new chapter in the conflict.

“Now it’s official. The special military operation is now recognised as a war,” she wrote on Telegram.

“Of course, de facto, the special military operation became a war long ago. But we have now passed a certain psychological boundary, beyond which more will be demanded both from population and the elites.”

Responding to journalists’ questions later, Peskov said his comments did not mean the country would introduce any legal changes adding that Russia’s actions in Ukraine were still legally qualified at home as “a special military operation”

Moscow has shown no signs it plans to slow down its assault on Ukraine two years after launching a full-scale invasion, but the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) executive board said on Thursday that it expected the war to wind down by the end of 2024.

A senior IMF official made the comments as the organisation approved a third review of Ukraine’s $15.6bn (£9.2bn) loan programme, allowing the release of $880m for budget support.