Posted on 12/19/22
| News Source: Washington Post
Russia attacked Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities in the early hours of Monday with a horde of self-detonating drones – once again bombing critical infrastructure but with a sinister tactical shift that seemed intended to deprive Ukrainians not only of heat, electricity, and water but also of sleep.
Air raids sirens rang out in Kyiv at 2 a.m., the shrill sound amplified by the emptiness of the capital’s streets during its overnight curfew.
Russia has been bombing Ukrainian cities relentlessly with missiles and drones since early October seeking to destroy the country’s energy grid and leave citizens without urgent services in the frigid winter, including a heavy missile barrage on Friday.
But Monday’s strikes mark the first time Russia had sent such a large fleet of drones overnight – potentially a recognition by Russian commanders that their noisy, slow-flying Iranian drones are far easier to spot and shoot down during daylight.
Ukraine’s Western supporters have rushed to bolster is air defenses in response to the repeated Russian missile and drone strikes. But while the Ukrainian military claimed to have destroyed most of the unmanned aerial vehicles or UAV’s, officials said several had hit their targets, causing news and serious damage to the country’s energy systems.
“All night, enemy UAVs tried to break into energy facilities throughout the country,” Ukraine’s main power grid operator,” Ukrenergo said in a statement. “Thanks to the professional work of the Air Defense Forces, the enemy did not fully achieve its goal, but, unfortunately, there are several hits on infrastructure facilities.”
“Currently, the most difficult situation has developed in the central, eastern and Dnipro regions,” the company’s statement continued. “Schedules of emergency shutdowns have been introduced in Sumy, Kharkiv, Poltava, Dnipropetrovsk, Zaporizhzhia, Kirovohrad, Zhytomyr, Chernihiv, Cherkasy, Kyiv regions and the city of Kyiv. Critical infrastructure facilities are prioritized. Restoration of energy supply to household consumers may take a long time.”