Ukraine scrambles to restore power after Russian barrage
KYIV, Ukraine — Ukraine’s capital had most of its power supply restored Friday, officials said, as the country again responded swiftly and defiantly to the latest Russian missile and drone barrage targeting crucial infrastructure.
In what has become a familiar tactic since October, the Kremlin’s forces struck Ukraine from afar Thursday while the ground battles in the country’s east largely remained mired in a grinding stalemate.
The apparent aim of attacking power stations and other infrastructure is to weaken Ukraine’s resolve and compel the Ukrainian government to negotiate peace on Moscow’s terms.
Ukrainian authorities scrambled to counter the consequences of the latest bombardment, part of a recurring cycle of urban smash-and-repair that has brought little change in the war, which recently entered its second year.
The Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based think tank, said in an assessment that “these missile strikes will not undermine Ukraine’s will or improve Russia’s positions on the front lines.”
Ukrainian military analyst Oleh Zhdanov said the Russians are striking civilian infrastructure because they can’t efficiently target Ukrainian military assets.
“The Russians lack data about the location of Ukrainian troops and weapons, so they are targeting civilian infrastructure and using the same old methods of attacking civilians to sow fear and panic in the society,” he said. “Ukraine has survived the winter, and Russia’s strikes on the energy system in the spring hardly make any sense.”
Power and water were restored in Kyiv, said Serhii Popko, the head of the city’s military administration. Popko said 30% of consumers in the capital remained without heating and that repair work was ongoing.
Power supplies were fully restored in Ukraine’s southern Odesa region, private provider DTEK said Friday afternoon. Around 60% of households in the city of Kharkiv that were knocked off grid by Russia’s missile strikes Thursday were also back online, authorities said, though significant damage remained in the Zhytomyr and Kharkiv regions in Ukraine’s northwest and northeast.
In another sign of normality quickly returning, Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin made an unannounced visit to Kyiv on Friday.
Marin accompanied President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and senior military officers at the funeral of one of Ukraine’s best known fighters and commanders who was killed in fighting near the devastated eastern city of Bakhmut. The service for Dmytro Kotsiubailo, killed a few days earlier at the age of 27, was held at the cathedral of Kyiv’s St. Michael’s Golden-Domed Monastery.
On the battlefield Friday, Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Malyar said the fighting in Bakhmut had “escalated,” with another push by Russian forces to break through Ukrainian defense lines that have largely held firm for the past six months. West of Bakhmut, shelling and missiles hit the city of Kostiantynivka, damaging multiple homes.