Ukraine war: Key power plant near Kyiv destroyed by Russian strikes
Centrenergo, the energy company, reported that a significant power facility close to Kyiv fell victim to Russian airstrikes early Thursday. According to officials, the Trypillya power plant, which served as the primary electricity source for three regions, including Kyiv, suffered extensive damage.
“The extent of the devastation is staggering,” remarked Andriy Hota, chairman of Centrenergo.
Russian aggression against Ukraine’s energy infrastructure has been consistent and deliberate over time.
Hota informed the BBC that the morning strikes obliterated key components of the plant, including transformers, turbines, and generators, leaving nothing functional.
Following the aerial assault, a fire erupted in the turbine workshop of the Trypillya plant, located approximately 50km south of Kyiv.
Multiple missiles targeted the plant, but fortunately, on-duty staff managed to evade harm by seeking shelter immediately after the initial drone strike.
Residents were advised to secure their homes, charge electronic devices, and ensure an adequate water supply.
In the early hours of Thursday, more than 80 missiles and drones targeted various sites across Ukraine, with a significant focus on energy infrastructure. Alarmingly, nearly one-third of these attacks bypassed Ukraine’s air defenses.
Hours later, Centrenergo confirmed the incapacitation of the Trypillya plant. Hota lamented the complete loss of his company’s operational capacity in Ukraine.
The Trypillya facility, one of Ukraine’s major electricity and heat providers, joined the ranks of casualties alongside another plant in the Kharkiv region, destroyed in late March, and one in a region of Donetsk annexed by Russia in 2022.
Combined, the Kharkiv and Trypillya plants once contributed approximately 8% of the nation’s electricity. Specifically, the Trypillya thermal plant serviced the central regions of Zhytomyr, Cherkasy, and Kyiv.
He believed the destruction of the Trypillya plant would not be a critical issue for Ukraine in the summer, although by winter it would become a “giant problem”.
While the plant can be rebuilt with help from spare parts from Europe, he says it will remain vulnerable to attack without Ukraine’s allies providing powerful air defenses.
“We can repair. We can do the impossible. But we need protection.”
At least two more thermal power plants suffered “significant damage” overnight in the west of Ukraine, placing even more strain on electricity supply nationwide.
The DTEK power company was already down to 20% capacity after repeat attacks in March.
The company told the BBC that the latest missile and drone strike on these “purely civilian power stations” would make the task of providing critical power to the grid harder.
“Attack by attack, Russia is trying to strangle Ukraine’s energy system and with it our hard-won freedom,” DTEK said.
The Kharkiv region in the north-east has been hard hit again after its power plants suffered major damage in late March.
The mayor there described the situation as “very difficult” and announced more blackouts for households and businesses.
For a time on Thursday, the Kharkiv metro stopped running to save power. It has since resumed, but the power supply is dipping and surging so the trains are only working very intermittently.
President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that Russia had been “obliged to respond” to the strikes on Ukrainian energy sites following Kyiv’s attacks on Russian targets, although this is a war he launched without cause two years ago.
“Unfortunately, we observed a series of strikes on our energy sites recently and were obliged to respond,” he said.
“I want to emphasise that, even for humanitarian reasons, we did not carry out any strikes in winter. What I mean is that we didn’t want to leave social institutions without power – hospitals and the like. But after a series of attacks on our power facilities, we had to respond.”
“Strikes on energy”, he added, were part of Russia’s aim of “demilitarising” Ukraine – one of his stated goals when the invasion began in February 2022.
In a separate development, four people died and several more were injured in the southern city of Mykolaiv in a rare series of daytime strikes on Thursday.
The Ukrainian Southern Military Command said on Telegram that private houses, cars and industrial facilities were damaged in the “insidious” attack.
