Putin waited for bad weather, Middle East developments to strike Kyiv's energy grid, Zelensky says
Following Russia's overnight large-scale attack on Ukraine's energy infrastructure, President Volodymyr Zelensky accused Russia on Oct. 10 of deliberately timing the strikes to maximize damage while minimizing the political implications of the attacks.
"I believe that the weather conditions affected our capability to repel by something like 20-30%," Zelensky told reporters during a press briefing following the attack, Reuters reported.
Zelensky's comments follow a large-scale attack on Ukrainian energy infrastructure overnight on Oct. 9-10, in which Russia used 465 drones as well as 32 cruise and ballistic missiles to target Ukrainian cities.
Ukrainian air defenses reportedly intercepted 405 Russian drones and 15 missiles amid the attack that killed a child and injured at least 24 people.
Weather conditions overnight were favorable for Russia's attempt to evade air defenses, with low visibility reported in Kyiv and the country's eastern regions. The temperature in Kyiv also dropped to approximately four degrees Celsius (39 degrees Fahrenheit) overnight.
In his evening address, Zelensky further lambasted Russia for staging the attack amid an international focus on the ongoing peace deal between Hamas and Israel.
"(Russian President Vladimir) Putin is clearly taking advantage of the moment when the world is now paying almost all its attention to the possibility of establishing peace in the Middle East. Most of the world's states, all key leaders, have focused their attention on what is happening there. And this is a really good chance to achieve real peace after so many victims in that region," Zelensky said.
"And this is a new record of Russian meanness - to intensify terrorist attacks at such a moment, to strike precisely at the lives of our people," he added.
The attacks come amid Russia's intensifying aerial campaign targeting Ukraine's energy infrastructure ahead of the winter months. Millions of Ukrainians suffered through power and water outages amid the attack on various cities.
Bloomberg reported on Oct. 9, citing undisclosed sources, that Russian strikes on energy infrastructure have destroyed more than half of Ukraine's natural gas production capacity ahead of winter.
Following the attack, Zelensky spoke with the leaders of Finland, Germany, and the United Kingdom on Oct. 10, stressing that he hoped the "coalition of the willing" would hold a meeting in the coming weeks.
Zelensky further revealed that a Ukrainian delegation is set to visit Washington next week to negotiate the purchase of additional air defense systems as well as HIMARS rocket systems, as the country continues to cope with attacks on energy infrastructure.
Dmytro Basmat
