Romania is sending emergency aid to Ukraine, after the Russian attack that left more than 1 million people without electricity

The energy network of Ukraine is receiving emergency assistance from Romania, Poland and Slovakia, after the largest wave of Russian airstrikes that damaged energy installations and left more than 1 million people without power, the operator of the national network Ukrenergo announced on Friday, reports Reuters, taken over by News.ro.

The European Union and Ukraine linked their power grids in March 2022, shortly after the Russian invasion began, allowing Ukraine to receive emergency power from Europe if military strikes caused blackouts.

Russia launched its biggest airstrike on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure since the war on Friday, hitting a large dam, killing at least five people and leaving more than a million others without electricity, according to Kiev.

Romania, Poland and Slovakia are sending emergency aid to Ukraine

Ukraine, which has long urged allies to provide more air defenses, said its energy system was receiving emergency power from Poland, Romania and Slovakia, while seven of its regions were experiencing blackouts.

The move by Russia, which last week vowed to punish Kiev for carrying out attacks and strikes during the presidential election, brought back memories of the first winter of the invasion, when Moscow regularly bombed Ukraine’s power grid.

Russia denies it is deliberately targeting civilians, although the war that began with its full-scale invasion in February 2022 has left thousands dead, uprooting millions and destroying Ukrainian cities.

Moscow claims that attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure are legitimate strikes

Ukraine’s largest dam, the DniproHES in the southern city of Zaporizhia, suffered damage to its hydraulic structures and the dam itself, state hydroelectric company Ukrhidroenergo said, adding that there was no risk of a breach. The director of the company, Ihor Sîrota, stated that both its energy blocks and the dam were damaged. One of the blocks took two direct hits, he said. “There is currently a fire at the station. Emergency services and energy workers are on site dealing with the aftermath of multiple airstrikes,” the company said.

At least five people were killed, two in the Khmelnytsky region (west) and three in Zaporozhye, including at least one at the dam, according to the local administration and the general prosecutor’s office. According to the governor of Zaporozhye, 12 Russian rockets fell in the region during the night of Thursday to Friday, destroying several houses and causing an unknown number of injuries.

Russia launched 88 missiles and 63 Shahed drones, of which only 37 and 55 were shot down, respectively, the Ukrainian Air Force said. The attacks were concentrated in the Kharkiv, Dnipropetrovsk and Zaporizhia regions.

It’s a weaker-than-usual report of Ukrainian air defenses, which could reflect Moscow’s widespread use of ballistic missiles, which are harder to shoot down, and also the proximity of the targeted regions to Russian-controlled areas.

More than 1 million people in four regions were left without electricity

About 1.2 million people in at least four regions were left without electricity due to the attacks, according to figures posted by presidential adviser Oleksi Kuleba on Telegram. About 700,000 of them were in the eastern Kharkiv region alone.

“The goal is not only to damage, but to try again, like last year, to cause a large-scale failure of the country’s energy system,” wrote the Minister of Energy, Gherman Galuşchenko, on Facebook.

“Russia has launched the largest combined attack on the Ukrainian energy system since the beginning of the large-scale invasion,” grid operator UkrEnergo said, citing its head, Volodymyr Kudritsky. He reported power outages in seven regions.

Ukraine’s largest private energy company, DTEK, also said some of its thermal plants had been hit.

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said that work is currently underway to restore the electricity supply in nine regions. “The world can see as clearly as possible the targets of Russian terrorists: power plants and power lines, a hydroelectric dam, ordinary residential buildings, even a trolleybus,” he said.

Polish transmission grid operator PSE is helping its Ukrainian counterpart by providing 300 megawatts (MW) of power between 0600GMT and 1100GMT, PSE said on Friday.

“Subsequently, the flow will depend on the needs of their system and our ability to help,” said Maciej Wapinski, a PSE spokesman.

The European Union and Ukraine linked, opens a new tab their power grids in March 2022, shortly after the Russian invasion began, allowing Ukraine to receive emergency power from Europe if military attacks caused blackouts.