On Wednesday, January 15th, the Ukrainian national grid operator stated that Russia launched a “large-scale” missile attack on Ukraine, forcing the country to implement emergency power outages in six regions.
According to Reuters, the Ukrainian national electricity company announced in a statement that emergency power outages have been implemented in the regions of Kharkiv, Sumy, Poltava, Zaporizhzhia, Dnipropetrovsk, and Kirovohrad.
Furthermore, Ukrainian Energy Minister German Galushchenko stated on social media that “preventive measures” have been put into effect for the distribution system.
Over the past three years of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, as ground forces advance, the country’s energy facilities are regularly targeted by airstrikes.
Reported by Kyiv Independent, the Ukrainian Air Force disclosed that on January 15th, a large-scale missile attack was launched by Russian forces in the morning, with no immediate reports of damage.
In the early hours of the 15th, a nationwide air alarm was issued by the Ukrainian Air Force. Several Tu-95MS strategic bombers took off from an airport in Murmansk Oblast, Russia.
Missile launches were also conducted from Belgorod Oblast, Russia. Explosions were reported in Kharkiv, Khmelnytsky Oblast, and Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast.
In Lviv Oblast, Mayor Andriy Sadovyi stated that Russian forces had “attacked our region and Ukraine’s energy infrastructure.”
Svitlana Onyshchuk, head of the military administration in Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast, mentioned that the targets of the Russian attacks were “critical infrastructure” in the region, with no casualties reported.
Shortly after 8 a.m., air alarms in most parts of Ukraine were lifted.
A day earlier, following a large-scale attack by Ukrainian forces on military and industrial sites across Russia, the Russian Ministry of Defense threatened retaliation.
The General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces reported on the 14th that Ukraine launched the “largest scale” attack on Russian military and industrial facilities overnight, with drones striking targets up to 1100 kilometers away.
An insider from the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) informed Kyiv Independent that Russian chemical plants, refineries, and the ammunition depot at Engels Air Base were hit.
“The SBU and the Armed Forces of Ukraine continue to target Russian military facilities and industrial complexes,” the SBU source stated, “Every strike – whether on ammunition depots, refineries, oil reservoirs, or chemical plants – weakens Russia’s capacity to wage war in Ukraine.”