Ukrainian thermal power plant destroyed in attack
KYIV — The Zmiivska Thermal Power Plant in Ukraine’s eastern Kharkiv region was destroyed in a Russian missile attack, the Unian news agency said on Saturday, citing the Ukrainian power-generating company Centrenergo.
The missile strike on March 22 destroyed all the plant’s units and damaged auxiliary equipment, Centrenergo said in a report.
Workers are still clearing the rubble at the site and there is no access to most of the plant’s equipment.
On March 22, Russia fired 88 missiles and 63 Shahed combat drones at Ukraine, which Ukrainian authorities described as the largest strike on the country’s energy infrastructure to date, the report said.
The Zmiivska plant, which had a capacity of 2,200 megawatts, is the largest power-generating facility in eastern Ukraine, local media reported.
The Russian Ministry of Defense said on March 22 in a statement that the Russian military launched massive missile and drone attacks on energy and military facilities in Ukraine that day, and “all goals of the massive strike have been achieved”.
Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a decree setting out the routine spring conscription campaign, calling up 150,000 citizens for statutory military service, a document posted on the Kremlin’s website showed on Sunday.
All men in Russia are required to complete a yearlong military service, or equivalent training during higher education, from the age of 18.
In July, Russia’s lower house of parliament voted to raise the maximum age at which men can be conscripted to 30 from 27. The new legislation came into effect on Jan 1, 2024.
In September, Putin signed an order calling up 130,000 people for the autumn campaign and last spring Russia planned to conscript 147,000.
Kyiv has warned its stocks of munitions are running low, urging in particular Washington to end a political standoff that has frozen a new $60 billion aid package.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in an interview published on Friday that if Ukraine does not get promised US military aid blocked by disputes in Congress, its forces will have to retreat “in small steps”.
France’s defense minister said Paris would deliver “hundreds” of armored personnel carriers and anti-aircraft missiles as part of a new aid package to Ukraine.
“To hold such as an extensive front line, the Ukrainian army needs, for example, our VAB vehicles: it’s absolutely essential for troop mobility,” Sebastien Lecornu told La Tribune newspaper in an interview published on Saturday.
France is currently phasing out its VAB fleet — some of them more than 40 years old — with new Griffon armored vehicles, but Lecornu said the older models were “still operational”.
France will also supply more Aster 30 anti-aircraft missiles for SAMP/T launchers, similar to the US-supplied Patriot air defense systems, Agence France-Presse reported.