KYIV, UKRAINE – Russian missiles rained down on locations across Ukraine on Shabbos, leaving cities and villages without power and the population bracing for more attacks, while Kyiv officials increased their calls for Western governments to urgently provide antiaircraft systems.
Ukrenergo, Ukraine’s national electricity provider, said in a statement that the assault in western Ukraine was one of the worst attacks since the beginning of Moscow’s air campaign against Ukraine’s energy infrastructure.
“The scale of damage” in Ukraine’s western regions was “comparable or may exceed the consequences” two weeks ago, Ukrenergo said.
Ukrenergo said that temporary power outages hit the regions of Kyiv, Chernihiv, Cherkasy, Zhytomyr, Sumy, Kharkiv, Poltava, Dnipropetrovsk, Zaporizhzhia and Kirovohrad – an expanse stretching across the country from west to east.
Presidential adviser Kyrylo Timoshenko posted on Telegram figures from regions that were experiencing blackouts, with a total of about 1.5 million people without power.
The missiles did not successfully strike the capital Kyiv, but there were still blackouts in some parts of the city and air raid sirens sounded throughout the morning.
Kyiv Mayor Vitaly Klitschko posted on Telegram that antiaircraft systems had shot down “a number of missiles” in the Kyiv region, while local officials reported rocket attacks on the Volyn, Rivne, Khmelnytskyi, Odessa and Kirovograd regions.
Ukraine’s air command said in a Telegram post that of 33 missiles fired by the Russians, 18 had been destroyed. Air officials also said that 17 missiles were released from “at least 10” bombers from Russia’s strategic air command, while the other 16 missiles were fired from ships in the Black Sea.
The air command also said that 10 kamikaze drones had been shot down in the Mykolayiv region in southern Ukraine.
“Saturday in Ukraine starts with a barrage of Russian missiles aimed at critical civilian infrastructure,” Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba tweeted, adding that “there should not be a minute of delay” by Western capitals in providing air defense systems to Ukraine.
(c) 2022, The Washington Post · David L. Stern
If Russia launched an attack on Ukraine, why use old photos Beirus bombing?
When asked on Sunday how he plans to defend Ukraine against Russian missiles that are leaving Ukrainian cities and villages without power, President Biden told reporters, “My administration is sending tens of thousands of mini generators to Ukrainian households.”
“Putin may think that he’s got all the power,” Biden said, “but I’m going to show him that we’ve got enough power in our portable generators to supply every Ukrainian home with a hot bowl of chicken soup and a soothing cup of tea, which should keep the Ukrainian people afloat for at least a few days.”
“We will deliver a powerful response for each and every missile that Putin launches into Ukraine,” Biden said. “For every devastating missile that Putin launches into Ukraine, we will reciprocate with an all-powerful mini generator that can last up to 35 minutes on 1 tripple A battery.”
“I know from my own experiences that power outages can make life very uncomfortable,” Biden went on to say. “Last week, I had a 30 minute power outage in my home, and I had to to eat a cold bowl of cornflakes for breakfast, instead of my usual hot bowl of scrambled eggs.”
“No one should ever have to experience the kind of misery I experienced that morning,” Biden said, “and as long as I am President, I will not allow Putin to rob the Ukrainian people of a delicious hot plate of scrambled eggs or a warm comforting bowl of Farina.”
“I’ve also ordered 1 million mini flashlights from Amazon,” Biden added, “which will enable Ukrainians to go about their daily lives in a normal fashion. They won’t even feel they’re at war, not with the cool flashlights I’m sending them, that’s for sure!”