Russian Tu-95 Bombers Target Ukraine’s Energy Grid and Heating Infrastructure

Russian Tu-95 bombers fired cruise missiles targeting Ukrainian energy grid and heating infrastructure on Nov. 23, cutting power in at least a dozen regions and leaving millions without electricity.

Around ten Russian bombers, each of which can carry six weapons, began firing missiles on Wednesday afternoon. There were no early reports on the number of missiles fired.

“More cruel missile strikes across the country as Russia tries to punish Ukraine for daring to be free. I have seen the strength of the people of Ukraine, and I know Russia’s attempt to dominate Ukraine by plunging it into the cold and dark will fail. We stand with Ukraine,” U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Bridget A. Brink said in a Twitter post.

Multiple explosions were reported in Kyiv’s northern Darnytskyi District. Eyewitnesses and social media reported at least one strike in the vicinity of a heating plant. Windows were reportedly blown out in some buildings, Kyiv Post reported.

The blasts triggered repeated power breaks and blackouts across Kyiv region. Cuts in internet service were reported at multiple locations across the city, and water service at some locations.

A single “critical infrastructure facility” had been hit, said Kyiv Mayor Vitaly Klitschko. An announcement by the Kyiv regional defense command said a second missile hit a multi-story apartment building in the bedroom community of Vyshhorod, according to the UNIAN news agency.

At least two persons were injured but casualty counts were still in progress, said Andriy Nebitov, a Kyiv city police spokesman in a statement.

Ukraine’s defense ministry said six civilians were killed and 36 more were injured in Russian attacks on November 23.

Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) units shot down at least one incoming missile over Kyiv, news reports said. Another weapon hit and destroyed itself in the Dnipro River, but it was not clear whether the missile was shot down or flew into the water on its own, the UNIAN news agency reported. Social media showed X-101 missiles in airspace above the city.

The south Ukraine atomic power station, near the town Yuzhnoukrainsk in the southern Mykolaiv region, halted electricity production, a report in the Odessa-based Dumska news agency said. The switch-off was a preventative move necessitated by low output levels elsewhere in the power grid, Kyiv-based UNIAN news agency reported.

Multiple explosions were reported in the western city of Lviv forcing, reportedly, a city-wide blackout. In the southern city of Zaporizhzhia, blasts likewise cut power to most of the city, a city administration statement said. Other regions hit and partially losing power included Kharkiv, Dnipro, Mykolaiv, Poltava, Sumy, Odessa, Kharkiv, Cherkasy, Zhytomyr, Kryvyi Rih, Lutsk, Volyn, and Vinnytsia, news reports said.

Moldova news agencies to Ukraine’s west reported blackouts in the capital Chisinau and at multiple locations across the country.