Ukraine war: Russia preparing massive strikes on energy infrastructure

Russia’s Defense Ministry said it is planning “massive strikes” on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, days after launching a devastating attack on a warehouse near Kyiv, amplifying fears of another winter assault.

In a post published Sunday via Telegram, Russia’s Defense Ministry framed the planned attacks as a response to the continued Ukrainian strikes against Russian energy sites.

“In accordance with the received instructions, the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation began preparing to launch massive strikes against Ukrainian energy facilities as a response to the continuing attacks of the Kiev regime against the Russian civil infrastructure and fuel and energy facilities,” Russia’s Defense Ministry said, according to a Google translation.

The warning comes as the death toll from a Russian strike on a warehouse west of Kyiv on Friday evening rose to 38, with four people missing, according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Ukrainian officials said the strike, which marks the deadliest Russian attack in Ukraine so far this year, hit an ammunition storage facility in the village of Myla, triggering fires and explosions.

Emergency workers have extinguished most of the fires, Zelenskyy said, describing the incident as a “terrible situation” and a consequence of “terrible negligence on the part of those who stored explosives right next to people.”

Ukraine’s president said Saturday that an investigation had been launched to understand how and why the ammunition came to be housed there.

Russian forces have ramped up the number of missile strikes on Ukrainian cities as Kyiv faces a shortage of air defense equipment.

Ukraine, for its part, has pursued long-range drone strikes on Russian oil refineries and logistics hubs, seeking to raise the cost of the war for Moscow and test President Vladimir Putin’s resolve after more than four-and-a-half years of conflict.

Ukrainian officials, drone executives and national security experts have previously warned that the country could face another extremely difficult winter, amid fears of another sustained barrage of military attacks on its power grid during freezing temperatures.

Since April, Zelenskyy has emphasized the importance of ensuring that the country’s energy and critical infrastructure facilities are fully operational and reliably protected for the next heating season.

Speaking to CNBC earlier this month, Iryna Terekh, CEO of Ukrainian drone maker Fire Point, said Kyiv needs to be realistic about the threat it faces, particularly given the country’s acute shortage of air defense systems.

“Winter is coming, obviously, and the last winter was very hard for Ukraine and for big cities in general. This one would be no easier — and probably even harder,” Terekh said.