By Olena Harmash and Pavel Polityuk
KYIV, Nov 3 (Reuters) – Russia launched a sweeping, multi-wave bombardment of Ukraine’s energy infrastructure on Tuesday, knocking out power to swathes of the country with dozens of missiles and hundreds of drones, a week before US-brokered peace talks are due to resume.
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Russia had launched 289 drones, 17 ballistic missiles and 59 cruise missiles, hitting power plants and substations from the Black Sea port of Odesa in the south to Rivne in the west of the country.
Russian officials said that Ukraine, for its part, had set fire to a major oil refinery in the city of Yaroslavl in an overnight drone attack.
Ukraine’s largest private energy-generating company DTEK said three of its five thermal power plants had been knocked offline. Ukrainian officials said the damage forced power outages across the capital Kyiv and at least six other regions.
Prime Minister Sergii Koretskyi said railways were also hit, damaging passenger carriages, locomotives and a train station.
ZELENSKIY: RUSSIAN STRIKES TIMED FOR US VOTE
“It is very telling that all of this is happening on the day of the US congressional elections,” said Zelenskiy, calling for additional air defences for Ukraine. “The Russians believe that America will not notice this signal from them. But such terror must be noticed and stopped.”
Russia’s Defence Ministry said that its troops struck Ukrainian electricity facilities in several regions that supply power to military factories and the Ukrainian army.
During more than four years of the war, Russia has repeatedly targeted the Ukrainian energy system, destroying generation, distribution, and heating facilities in attacks that have worsened each year as cold winter months approach. Ukraine has stepped up strikes on Russian oil refineries this year.
US President Donald Trump announced in September and October that both sides had agreed to halt attacks on energy targets, although neither side confirmed this. Trump has largely criticised only Ukraine for continuing its strikes on Russia, while saying Russia’s behaviour has been “fine”.
Kyiv and Moscow are planning to hold trilateral peace talks with the United States next week in Abu Dhabi for the first time since February. Zelenskiy has said that discussions on a proposed energy ceasefire would be high on Ukraine’s agenda.
(Reporting by Olena Harmash, Additional reporting by Lina GolovnyaEditing by Daniel Flynn and Peter Graff)
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