Russia’s hypersonic missiles destroy huge Ukraine power plant

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 as Moscow unleashed a barrage of more than 80 missiles and drones in the early hours of Thursday morning.

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday said the airstrikes were part of the Kremlin’s “demilitarisation” of its neighbour.

“We assume that in this way we have an influence on the Ukrainian military-industrial complex,” said Mr Putin.

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.

The plant, a major power supplier for the Kyiv, Cherkasy and Zhytomyr regions, was the last to survive of three facilities owned by the company.

The plants have all been destroyed or occupied by Russia since the full-scale invasion more than two years ago, with Centrenergo warning it could no longer generate power.

“As a result of today’s massive attack, our entire generation capacity was destroyed,” the company announced in a statement.

Dtek, Ukraine’s largest private electricity firm, had lost 80 per cent of its generation capacity after strikes between March 22 and 29.

The strikes also targeted two underground natural gas storage facilities, some of which are owned by foreign companies, energy firm Naftogaz said.

Analysts have warned that if the Russian strikes are allowed to continue, Ukraine will soon no longer have the ability to generate energy ahead of next winter.

James Rushton, a Kyiv-based security analyst, said the attacks were “clearly opportunistic – exploiting dwindling numbers of air defence missiles in the Ukrainian inventory”.

“The problem is if they keep going like this, Ukraine will have little to no power generation capability by winter,” he added.

Sergej Sumlenny, founder of the European Resilience Initiative Centre, said: “Coal and gas power stations are vital for balancing the demand-and-supply problem in a large network, as they can increase and decrease production.

“Ukraine’s nuclear power plants cannot work without this balancing.”

He added: “Coal and gas plants also supply heat for larger cities, this will be another huge problem in just six months.”

Call for more air defence batteries 

In the wake of the attacks, national energy operator Ukrenergo, called on Ukrainians to limit the use of electrical appliances between 7pm and 10pm, when it predicted shortages of power because generation from solar plants, which are carrying much of the burden, would decrease.

The massive bombardment on Ukrainian energy facilities came amid escalating warnings that Ukraine could soon run out of air defence interceptor missiles.

The shortages are largely blamed on the United States’ stalled $60 billion military aid package, which is being held up in Congress by allies of former president Donald Trump.

Dmytro Kuleba, Ukraine’s foreign minister, said Russia’s overnight barrage used six ballistic missiles, which reach their targets in minutes and are much harder to shoot down.

He has been pushing for delivery of extra US-made Patriot air defence batteries to Ukraine in recent weeks.

Mr Zelensky has previously said Ukraine needs 26 to create a total air shield over Ukraine, but Mr Kuleba is focused on securing seven as quickly as possible to protect the country’s largest cities and have one free for front-line duties.

“Ukraine remains the only country in the world facing ballistic strikes. There is currently no other place for Patriots to be,” Mr Kuleba wrote on social media.