UKRAINE, Mar 22 — Ukrainian Energy Minister Herman Halushchenko reported the largest attack by the Russian military on energy facilities in different oblasts of the country since the beginning of the year.

He wrote about this on his Facebook page.

According to the minister, Russia is trying not just to damage the energy infrastructure but to cause a large-scale failure of the entire Ukrainian energy system, as it was in 2023.

The Russian missile attack damaged power generation facilities, transmission, and distribution systems. In addition, one of the lines supplying the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant was cut off due to the strikes. 

The Russian army also hit the Dnipro Hydroelectric Power Plant in Zaporizhzhia, the largest HPP in Ukraine, Ukrhydroenergo [a state company of Ukraine that administers a cascade of major hydropower plants along Dnieper and Dniester rivers — ed.] reported.

Some oblasts of Ukraine are already experiencing power outages. In particular, Russia attacked critical infrastructure in Kharkiv, Zaporizhzhia, Kryvyi Rih, Dnipro, Kropyvnytskyi, Khmelnytskyi, Vinnytsia, Sumy, Ivano-Frankivsk, and Lviv using missiles. Energy facilities and residential buildings were damaged, and there were injuries and deaths among the civilian population.

In total, the Russian army attacked Kharkiv with more than 15 missile strikes. The city has no electricity, and public transportation does not work.

UPD from 4:50 p.m., Mar 22: Mistranslation in the headline fixed.

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  • From 4:15 a.m. to 5:25 a.m., Kharkiv residents heard at least 15 explosions. The City Mayor, Ihor Terekhov, reported Russians are hitting energy infrastructure with missiles.