Sao Paulo
Vladimir Putin’s forces attacked Ukraine’s energy grid again this Thursday (21) after a sixmonth break, raising fears that a new wave of actions aimed at leaving the country in the dark has begun.
Russia deployed 43 cruise missiles, of which Kiev said it intercepted 36. Cities in the center, northeast and west of the country were affected. “Partial power outages occurred in Rivne, Zhytomyr, Kiev, Dnipropetrovsk and Kharkiv regions,” operator Ukrenergo said on Telegram.
On October 10 last year, after the bridge between occupied Crimea and Russia was attacked for the first time, Moscow launched a campaign against energy distribution facilities in the occupied country. The almost weekly actions lasted until January, the height of winter in the northern hemisphere, with Ukraine left in the dark in subzero temperatures.
The waves became sporadic, with the last recorded in March when Russia used 81 missiles in one of its largest attacks of the entire war. Interestingly, Moscow spared the production centers, which is easily explained in the case of the country’s nuclear matrix before the war, 24% of energy came from this source, but Russia took over one of Kiev’s four power plants and practically shut it down.
“Winter is coming,” MP Andrii Osadtchuk wrote on X (formerly Twitter), referring to the dark catchphrase from the TV series Game of Thrones. At least 18 people were injured in the attacks, and two deaths recorded in the country occurred as a result of artillery fire.
Of course, it is not possible to know whether Moscow will continue these actions, but they could indicate the beginning of a new phase in the war. Compared to last season, Kiev has access to more Western air defense systems, although these are concentrated in centers such as the capital the target of 20 of the missiles this morning.
The current phase of the conflict is marked by Ukraine’s difficulties in resolutely pushing forward its counteroffensive, and the arrival of autumn rains next month serves as a deadline for this. After that, the terrain is largely unsuitable for troop and tank movements. Not that it is impossible, but it becomes more difficult and, in the Russian case, favors exchanges of fire in static positions and air strikes with missiles.
In recent weeks, Ukraine has also stepped up attacks against the Crimean peninsula, which Putin annexed after toppling Kiev’s proMoscow government in 2014. Actions have already taken place there against antiaircraft batteries, bridges, airfields and the navy headquarters. Black Sea in Sevastopol.
This Thursday, the Ukrainian intelligence service SBU announced that it had carried out a successful attack on the Saki air base, where Black Sea Fleet fighter jets and other aircraft are located. The damage caused by an initial attack by suicide drones manning air defenses and subsequent attacks by landbased versions of the Neptune antiship missile cannot yet be estimated, Kiev said.
The tactic was already used at the end of August to destroy a powerful antiaircraft system not far from Saki. Now Russia has only said it shot down 19 drones near the base. It was the target of one of the most effective Ukrainian attacks to date in Crimea, destroying at least eight Russian warplanes on the runway in August last year.
The attacks on the peninsula have heightened Kiev’s already worried Western allies. There are credible reports that the US views the 2014 annexation as a fait accompli, even if it is illegal, and that it would be prudent to retain it as part of any eventual peace negotiations. President Volodymyr Zelensky refuses and proposes the complete evacuation of his territory.
All this has led to tensions mixed with domestic political factors, as in the case of Poland, whose Prime Minister declared on Wednesday (20) that he would no longer send weapons to Ukraine. The countries are arguing over a Polish embargo on grain from Kiev, whose flow through the Black Sea has been interrupted since Putin left a corresponding agreement.
As elections are held in the country in October, the farright opposition is attacking the rightwing government and criticizing proUkraine policies, which contributes to understanding the explosive attitude of Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki.