Russia returns to attack neighborhoods and electrical power plants of Kyiv with ballistic missiles

BarcelonaRussia has launched a new large-scale ballistic missile attack against Kyiv this Wednesday morning, which has caused destruction in a residential neighborhood and struck several power plants in the Ukrainian capital. The attack confirms that Russia is not committed to the energy truce announced by Donald Trump last weekend. The attacks have left at least 3 dead and 22 wounded in the Ukrainian capital. The authorities have not yet commented on the attacks against the power plants or on the extent of the damage caused.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who is visiting London this Wednesday and will travel to Brussels tomorrow, lamented on Tuesday that the allies had not shared intelligence information about the Russian ballistic missile attacks suffered on Monday and Tuesday. Kyiv has reiterated this morning that for the second consecutive day, the allies have not provided any prior warning of the launches. The Ukrainian Air Force has also stated that it had not received any alert on either of the two days.

It is clear that the Kremlin continues its pattern of destroying energy infrastructure to once again condemn Ukrainians to what will be the fifth winter of supply cuts, darkness, and cold. This comes after Trump announced a diesel purchase from Russia to alleviate price hikes in the United States, which gives oxygen to the Kremlin, and reiterated that it is Zelensky who is holding up an agreement.

Several power plants in the capital have been the target of the attacks, as explained to the portal The Kyiv Independent by an energy sector official who spoke on condition of anonymity. Russia continues to intensify attacks against energy infrastructure ahead of the winter months. The first explosions were heard in the capital late in the evening, when a Russian missile, with practically no prior warning, impacted a nine-story residential building in the Desnianskyi district and caused a large-scale fire, according to Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko. At least two people have died and 21 more have been wounded as a result of the Russian attack against the residential building, according to Klitschko. Of the wounded, 16 have been hospitalized and four are in serious condition.

Between five and seven in the morning local time, more than a dozen explosions were heard, which caused power supply cuts. The State Emergency Service of Ukraine has reported that the attacks also caused damage to a "non-residential" building, of which no further details have been given, and to two homes.

The non-existent truce

The latest Russian attacks on energy infrastructure come a few days after United States President Donald Trump declared an energy truce and demanded that Ukraine stop attacking Russian oil facilities. Trump blamed these attacks—and not the war he himself launched against Iran, which caused the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz—for the rise in oil prices. Zelensky responded that he would be willing to accept an energy truce if Russian forces stopped attacking Ukrainian energy infrastructure and to ensure that he had stopped drone attacks against Russian refineries.