Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba condemned Russia’s mass missile strike targeting energy infrastructure across Ukraine on Dec. 29 as a “senseless barbarism,” attacking “peaceful Ukrainian cities ahead of New Year.”
“There can be no ‘neutrality’ in the face of such mass war crimes,” Kuleba said in a Twitter post.
As Russia steps up its bombardment of Ukraine’s critical infrastructure amid its battlefield setbacks, Kuleba insisted that “pretending to be ‘neutral’" in the conflict without taking Kyiv’s side is equivalent to supporting Moscow.
Russia launched its eighth large-scale attack against Ukraine's critical infrastructure on the morning of Dec. 29. At least three people were wounded in Kyiv, according to mayor Vitali Klitschko.
As a result of the strike, “some damage” was inflicted on Ukraine’s power generation facilities and energy grid, according to Energy Minister Herman Halushchenko.
Emergency power outages were rolled in the southern Odesa Oblast and the central Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, energy giant DTEK said. 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.