Energy Minister Herman Halushchenko reported on Dec. 29 that “some damage” was inflicted on Ukraine’s power generation facilities and energy grid during Russia’s mass strike despite the “excellent work” of the air defense.
The minister said that the energy situation is particularly “difficult” in Kyiv Oblast and the southern Odesa Oblast, as well as western Ukraine.
Earlier, energy giant DTEK said that Odesa Oblast and the central Dnipropetrovsk Oblast were forced to roll emergency power outages.
“Today, the enemy carried out another massive attack on the energy infrastructure of Ukraine,” Halushchenko said in a Facebook post.
About 40% of Kyiv residents and 90% of Lviv residents in western Ukraine were cut off from electricity as of the morning, city mayors said.
In its eighth mass missile strike targeting Ukraine's energy infrastructure on Dec. 29, Russia fired 69 missiles, according to Chief Commander Valerii Zaluzhnyi. Some 54 missiles were downed by Ukraine's air defense, he said.