Destruction of Ukraine’s energy system is the main goal of Russia’s missile attacks

On October 10, the Russians launched a massive missile attack on the territory of Ukraine. That day the Ukrainian air defense intercepted and destroyed the whopping 46 cruise missiles and 17 UAVs. Most of these UAVs were the Iranian Shahed-136 kamikaze drones, similar ones to those that attacked Saudi oil rigs a few years ago.

At the same time, strikes on critical infrastructure facilities were recorded in 15 regions. A series of explosions rang out right in the center of Kyiv. At least 6 civilians were killed and more than 50 were wounded in the capital of Ukraine. There are also dead and wounded in Dnipro and Kyiv regions. In general, at least 12 dead and 89 wounded are known in Ukraine.

This war crime was presented as a “retaliation” for ruining Putin’s 70^th birthday on Saturday, October 8. That day the Crimean bridge exploded. It was presented that tsar Putin was informed about the destruction of the bridge and decided on the spot to intensify the Russian attacks by a massive missile strike against Ukraine on Monday, October 10. 

The Ukrainian intelligence has a more plausible story. The attack was being prepared since at least the beginning of October. Intelligence report, the Russian occupying forces received instructions from the Kremlin to prepare massive missile strikes on the civilian infrastructure of Ukraine as early as October 2-3.

In Kyiv, as a result of the attacks, the buildings of the Taras Shevchenko University, Teacher’s house, the Art Museum of the Khanenko, business center near the main railway station, a children’s playground and a pedestrian bridge were damaged. At the same time, according to analytical data, the target of the rockets was the main railway station during peak hours, the main office of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), and the main building of the Taras Shevchenko University, where the students were studying.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the President of Ukraine, reacted to the massive Russian attacks. He said, “The Russian army especially struck these strikes in the morning rush hour – this is a characteristic tactic of terrorists, they wanted to instill more fear and affect more people. And they affected, they affected the whole world…” he said in his video message.

Other targets included critical infrastructure facilities. Ukraine does not open the list of affected targets, but, by information from open sources, it can be assumed that energy facilities – thermal power plants, power plants, and substations – were primary targets. According to local media, Russians hit an electrical substation in Lviv twice on October 10 and 11, which caused a blackout for almost a day.

During the massive shelling by the Russians on October 10, four rockets hit the Burshtyn thermal power plant in the Ivano-Frankivsk region, and there were no casualties, Svitlana Onyshchuk, head of the regional state administration, reported, Forbes writes.

Before that the Office of the President of Ukraine informed that critical infrastructure was damaged as a result of enemy strikes, in particular, the Kyiv thermal power plant.

As a result of the damage to the energy facilities, Ukraine decided to stop exporting electricity to the EU. This is stated in the statement of the Minister of Energy of Ukraine, Herman Halushchenko: “Russia continues to carry out energy terror against Ukraine, and also increases energy pressure on the European Union.” “The cynicism is that the entire supply chain has been hit – both electricity distribution systems and generation. The enemy’s goal is to make it difficult to reconnect the power supply from other sources,” the minister noted.

He also emphasized that Ukrainian electricity, which was exported after synchronization to the EU, as well as through separate lines to Moldova and Poland, helped Europe replace Russian gas and supported the stability of the European energy system. However, the missile strikes caused the interruption of supplies, which is an additional element of Russia’s hybrid aggression against the EU countries.

It should be noted that Ukraine fulfilled its obligations before its European partners for the export of electricity even after the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant was seized more than 7 months ago.

In response to the mass missile attacks of the Russian Federation, the leaders of 11 European countries made joint statement. “We remind that war crimes and crimes against humanity have no statute of limitations and fall under the jurisdiction of courts around the world. On behalf of our countries, we demand that Russia immediately stop attacks on civilian objects,” approved by the presidents of Bulgaria, Montenegro, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, North Macedonia, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, and Hungary on Tuesday.

To conclude, the October airstrikes are a part of Russia subversive operation to destroy Ukraine and to untie its energy system from that of the EU. It’s part and parcel of Russia’s energy war against the EU and gas supply blackmail. The evil leadership of Russia destroys Ukraine, doing it in such a way that, in their sick imagination, will hurt the EU the most.