A hulking Soviet-era power plant on the outskirts of Kyiv was completely destroyed by a Russian hypersonic missile in a large-scale attack against Ukraine’s energy infrastructure.
Officials said power facilities were hit in five regions across the war-torn country after Moscow unleashed a barrage of more than 80 missiles and drones in the early hours of Thursday morning.
The attacks, which hammered thermal and hydroelectric power plants, have raised fears over the resilience of Ukraine’s air defences, as well as its ability to generate enough energy.
Footage shared on social media appeared to show a thick plume of black smoke in the skies as a fire raged at the Trypilska coal-powered thermal power plant, about 25 miles south of Kyiv.
Ukraine’s air force said it managed to intercept just 18 of the 42 incoming cruise and ballistic missiles that were part of the Thursday onslaught.
Volodymyr Zelensky, the Ukrainian president, accused Kyiv’s Western allies of “turning a blind eye” to his country’s needs for more air defence systems.
“All of our European neighbours and other partners see Ukraine’s critical need for air defence systems,” he said.
The Ukrainian leader added that if Russia was allowed to continue its long-range strikes without a Western response, “this will amount to a global licence for terror”.
“Everything is destroyed,” Andriy Gota, the head of the supervisory board of Centrenergo, Ukraine’s state-owned energy company, said, confirming the destruction of the Trypilska plant.
Mr Gota confirmed the missile strike had caused a massive fire in the plant’s turbine hall.
“A large-scale fire [broke out] in the turbine shop,” he said. “The scale of destruction is terrible.
“All employees who were on shift during the shelling are alive,” he added.