Latest news with #Ternopil
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Ukraine's race to rebuild power plants under Russian bombardment
Valeria was about to take a bite of pizza when the Iskander landed nearby. The blast from the Russian missile shattered all the windows in the Mykolaiv CHP (combined heat and power) plant in southern Ukraine, igniting a gas fire and propelling shrapnel through the canteen. 'I had imagined what I might do when a missile or a Shahed [drone] comes, like if it really happens to me, and I had told myself I should be really calm at that moment,' says the 27-year-old. She and her twin sister Alyona led a hyperventilating colleague out of the plant's office to her car. The trio were still driving away when the second Iskander hit, devastating the plant's boiler-room. After that Oct 10 strike, the plant was targeted again, in January, February and May, each time with Shahed drones. On Thursday night, Russia renewed its campaign against Ukraine's national energy infrastructure, breaking a loosely followed ceasefire Vladimir Putin agreed with Donald Trump in a phone call on March 18. Power facilities were struck in the western city of Ternopil and targeted in other areas, days after Putin warned he would avenge Ukraine's elaborate 'Spiderweb' attack on Russia's bomber fleet. 'The scumbags haven't hit the energy sector en masse for five months,' wrote Myroshnykov, a Ukrainian military blogger. 'Ballistics on transformers – only the scumbags could do that.' On Friday night, Moscow struck the northeastern city of Kharkiv with what the mayor described as the 'most powerful attack' since the start of the war, involving more than 50 Iranian-made drones, one rocket and four guided bombs. At least three people were killed and 22 wounded in the devastating strikes. Harrowing scenes saw bloodied residents being carried out on stretchers from their homes by rescue workers wearing gas masks. Respite is direly needed. Ukraine faces shortfalls in both electricity and natural gas production after the wave of Russian attacks – and every hour without further explosions allows for the progress of repairs. Few appreciate the challenges like Dmytro Myroshnychenko, the chairman of Mykolaiv CHP plant. On a tour of the facility, he grimly points out the legacy of Russia's bombardment: the boiler-room is a tangle of charred iron and splintered rebar; shrapnel perforates an oil tank; flaps of corrugated roof panelling limp over the walls of the destroyed turbine control centre. In full health, the Mykolaiv CHP heats 160,000 homes and provides 26MW of electricity to the national grid. The latter was ended by a February drone strike. That the plant managed to deliver heat over winter is testament to the grit of its staff. After the first Iskander strike in October, Mr Myroschnychenko ran through the facility to check if anyone was injured. 'My first thought was, everyone is lying on the floor,' he says. Luckily, everyone survived. The next day, repairs began. Russia's attack hit two weeks before the start of Mykolaiv's heating season, when residents can turn on their radiators as temperatures sink below freezing. Staff were nervous coming to work but 'everyone understood the importance, as if we didn't rebuild the city would be left without heat'. Only interrupted by air raid alerts, workers frantically shifted pipelines from the two ruined boilers to a 1930s predecessor. When he pushed the button to turn on the heat again, Mr Myroschnychenko felt little relief. 'I knew more attacks would be coming,' he says, 'so we started preparing for them.' The £29.5million needed to build two new boilers is prohibitive; instead, the plant is focused on keeping its elderly system running. Four small metal air raid shelters have been placed on the plant floor, in addition to three underground bunkers. Gennady, a 47-year-old machinist, escaped the boiler room by touch in one strike, unable to see through the clouds of dust. Now, when sirens warn of an impending strike, he often has to climb up and down several ladders: unlike the destroyed computerised systems, the surviving parts have to be operated by hand. He jokes there is one advantage: 'It is difficult to break them so easily, as there are no electronics.' But they are harder to shut down in an emergency. One new metal air raid shelter stands a few feet from the boiler. As Gennady opens the door, a worker caught in a lunchtime nap guiltily slips out. The most serious challenge facing Ukraine ahead of the next heating season is a shortage of gas, with underground storage badly hit by the Russian strikes: Mykolaiv CHP lost large quantities when the Iskander destroyed a pipeline. 'We need to find $2.5 billion and purchase gas, putting aside the risk of further strikes. The task is quite clear, but extremely difficult,' Oleksandr Kharchenko, the director of Ukraine's energy research centre, told RBC-Ukraine, a local news outlet, this month. Last winter, Ukraine avoided a crisis. Record high temperatures and low industrial use spared residents from major power cuts. Experts are calling for small boilers, firewood and coal to be delivered to the worst-hit cities – Mykolaiv, Odesa, Dnipro and Kryvyi Rih – before winter. Should there be long-lasting blackouts, further waves of refugees will head west. Others will freeze to death. In Mykolaiv CHP, the workers plough on with gallows humour. The plant knows war: it was destroyed by the Nazis when they were forced out of Mykolaiv by the Red Army in 1943. A portrait of Lenin has been left above the doorway in one workshop, with the name 'Morozov' scrawled underneath; a decades-old reference to a lookalike employee. The shipyard next door built Russia's only aircraft carrier, the Admiral Kuznetzov, before this invasion began. All the plant's staff are protected from conscription. But it needs another 40 people to get up to speed, admits Mr Myroshnychenko. At work, Valeria and her friends no longer eat pizza. The next time they sat down to one after the October strike, an air raid sounded immediately. 'It's become a joke,' she says – and another reason to loathe the Russians. Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
Telegraph
2 days ago
- Politics
- Telegraph
Ukraine's race to rebuild power plants under Russian bombardment
Valeria was about to take a bite of pizza when the Iskander landed nearby. The blast from the Russian missile shattered all the windows in the Mykolaiv CHP (combined heat and power) plant in southern Ukraine, igniting a gas fire and propelling shrapnel through the canteen. 'I had imagined what I might do when a missile or a Shahed [drone] comes, like if it really happens to me, and I had told myself I should be really calm at that moment,' says the 27-year-old. She and her twin sister Alyona led a hyperventilating colleague out of the plant's office to her car. The trio were still driving away when the second Iskander hit, devastating the plant's boiler-room. After that Oct 10 strike, the plant was targeted again, in January, February and May, each time with Shahed drones. On Thursday night, Russia renewed its campaign against Ukraine's national energy infrastructure, breaking a loosely followed ceasefire Vladimir Putin agreed with Donald Trump in a phone call on March 18. Power facilities were struck in the western city of Ternopil and targeted in other areas, days after Putin warned he would avenge Ukraine's elaborate 'Spiderweb' attack on Russia's bomber fleet. 'The scumbags haven't hit the energy sector en masse for five months,' wrote Myroshnykov, a Ukrainian military blogger. 'Ballistics on transformers – only the scumbags could do that.' On Friday night, Moscow struck the northeastern city of Kharkiv with what the mayor described as the 'most powerful attack' since the start of the war, involving more than 50 Iranian-made drones, one rocket and four guided bombs. At least three people were killed and 22 wounded in the devastating strikes. Harrowing scenes saw bloodied residents being carried out on stretchers from their homes by rescue workers wearing gas masks. Respite is direly needed. Ukraine faces shortfalls in both electricity and natural gas production after the wave of Russian attacks – and every hour without further explosions allows for the progress of repairs. Few appreciate the challenges like Dmytro Myroshnychenko, the chairman of Mykolaiv CHP plant. On a tour of the facility, he grimly points out the legacy of Russia's bombardment: the boiler-room is a tangle of charred iron and splintered rebar; shrapnel perforates an oil tank; flaps of corrugated roof panelling limp over the walls of the destroyed turbine control centre. In full health, the Mykolaiv CHP heats 160,000 homes and provides 26MW of electricity to the national grid. The latter was ended by a February drone strike. That the plant managed to deliver heat over winter is testament to the grit of its staff. After the first Iskander strike in October, Mr Myroschnychenko ran through the facility to check if anyone was injured. 'My first thought was, everyone is lying on the floor,' he says. Luckily, everyone survived. The next day, repairs began. Russia's attack hit two weeks before the start of Mykolaiv's heating season, when residents can turn on their radiators as temperatures sink below freezing. Staff were nervous coming to work but 'everyone understood the importance, as if we didn't rebuild the city would be left without heat'. Only interrupted by air raid alerts, workers frantically shifted pipelines from the two ruined boilers to a 1930s predecessor. When he pushed the button to turn on the heat again, Mr Myroschnychenko felt little relief. 'I knew more attacks would be coming,' he says, 'so we started preparing for them.' The £29.5million needed to build two new boilers is prohibitive; instead, the plant is focused on keeping its elderly system running. Four small metal air raid shelters have been placed on the plant floor, in addition to three underground bunkers. Gennady, a 47-year-old machinist, escaped the boiler room by touch in one strike, unable to see through the clouds of dust. Now, when sirens warn of an impending strike, he often has to climb up and down several ladders: unlike the destroyed computerised systems, the surviving parts have to be operated by hand. He jokes there is one advantage: 'It is difficult to break them so easily, as there are no electronics.' But they are harder to shut down in an emergency. One new metal air raid shelter stands a few feet from the boiler. As Gennady opens the door, a worker caught in a lunchtime nap guiltily slips out. The most serious challenge facing Ukraine ahead of the next heating season is a shortage of gas, with underground storage badly hit by the Russian strikes: Mykolaiv CHP lost large quantities when the Iskander destroyed a pipeline. 'We need to find $2.5 billion and purchase gas, putting aside the risk of further strikes. The task is quite clear, but extremely difficult,' Oleksandr Kharchenko, the director of Ukraine's energy research centre, told RBC-Ukraine, a local news outlet, this month. Last winter, Ukraine avoided a crisis. Record high temperatures and low industrial use spared residents from major power cuts. Experts are calling for small boilers, firewood and coal to be delivered to the worst-hit cities – Mykolaiv, Odesa, Dnipro and Kryvih Rih – before winter. Should there be long-lasting blackouts, further waves of refugees will head west. Others will freeze to death. In Mykolaiv CHP, the workers plough on with gallows humour. The plant knows war: it was destroyed by the Nazis when they were forced out of Mykolaiv by the Red Army in 1943. A portrait of Lenin has been left above the doorway in one workshop, with the name 'Morozov' scrawled underneath; a decades-old reference to a lookalike employee. The shipyard next door built Russia's only aircraft carrier, the Admiral Kuznetzov, before this invasion began. All the plant's staff are protected from conscription. But it needs another 40 people to get up to speed, admits Mr Myroshnychenko. At work, Valeria and her friends no longer eat pizza. The next time they sat down to one after the October strike, an air raid sounded immediately. 'It's become a joke,' she says – and another reason to loathe the Russians.
Washington Post
3 days ago
- Politics
- Washington Post
Ukrainian cities pounded by Russia in apparent retaliation for drone strike
KYIV — Moscow launched a major air assault on Ukraine overnight Friday with hundreds of drones and dozens of missiles, pounding the capital Kyiv and half a dozen other locations including the rarely-touched west of the country. The strikes killed at least four people in the capital and injured dozens elsewhere. The strikes come after Ukrainian special services conducted an audacious attack over the weekend on Russian air bases for which President Vladimir Putin promised to retaliate. Despite sponsoring a peace process, President Donald Trump on Thursday appeared resigned to the two sides continuing fighting, comparing them in the Oval Office to children squabbling on a playground, adding, 'you're better off letting them fight for a while.' Ukrainian officials said the assault damaged 'civilian infrastructure,' but did not provide further details. However, power outages in Kyiv and the western city of Ternopil indicated that energy facilities were possibly a target. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a statement that the strikes involved 'more than 400 drones and more than 40 missiles,' including ballistic missiles, and targeted nine Ukrainian regions across the country. 'Russia is not changing its handwriting,' he wrote in a post on Telegram, which included photos of bodies lying on the street and damage from the strikes. 'Russia must answer for this … now is the moment when America, Europe and everyone in the world together can stop this war by putting pressure on Russia.' Russia also reported it was attacked by Ukrainian drones, including on a factory in the Tambov region south of Moscow, the Engels air force base in the nearby Saratov region, and the airport at Bryansk near the Ukrainian border. Russia's Defense Ministry said it destroyed 174 Ukrainian drones as well as Neptune missiles over the Black Sea. Kyiv appeared to bear the brunt of the Russian assault overnight, with ballistic missiles and waves of self-detonating drones killing four and injuring at least 20, Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said. Vyacheslav Nehoda, head of the Ternopil Regional Military Administration in western Ukraine, wrote on social media that the attack was the largest on the region since the war began, and there were 'multiple hits.' The western Ukrainian city of Lutsk also came under attack, local officials said. The assault appears to be retaliation for Ukraine's extensive attack on Russia's bomber fleet on Sunday, targeting air bases across Russia and damaging many nuclear-capable aircraft. Ukrainians celebrated the boldness of the operation — named 'Spiderweb' by officials — but also braced themselves for what they expected would be major Russian retaliation. On Wednesday, Trump wrote on social media that Putin told him in a phone call earlier that day that he would respond to the attacks 'very strongly.' Putin also told a meeting of his cabinet that the Kyiv government was run by 'terrorists,' and rejected direct talks with Zelensky. Trump's comments were interpreted by observers in Russia as tacit agreement that Russia had a right to strike back at Ukraine. However, on Thursday Trump said that he told Putin to refrain from retaliating. 'I said, 'Don't do it. You shouldn't do it. You should stop it,'' Trump said. 'But again, there's a lot of hatred.'
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Three killed in 'massive' Russian strikes on Ukraine, Zelensky says
Russia launched large-scale drone and missile strikes on Ukraine's capital and other parts of the country early on Friday, local officials said. At least three people were killed and 49 injured in the strikes, according to Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky. The aerial raids targeted Kyiv, as well as the city of Lutsk and the Ternophil region in the north-west of the country. The attack came after Russian President Vladimir Putin warned US President Donald Trump he would respond to Ukraine's recent strikes on Russian airbases. "As of now, three deaths have been confirmed - all of them were employees of the State Emergency Service of Ukraine," Zelensky said. He said the attack used more than 400 drones and more than 40 missiles, and the number of people injured "may increase". In an earlier statement, Kyiv's Mayor Vitali Klitschko said four people had been killed in the country's capital. Air raid alerts were in place in the capital, as well as the cities of Kharkiv, Sumy and Luhansk. Kyiv's train system was disrupted after shelling damaged metro tracks. Outside of the capital, Ternopil's military chief Vyacheslav Negoda said Friday's strike was the "most massive air attack on our region to date". Mayor of Ternopil, Igor Polishchuk, said five people were wounded in the attack and there was damage to homes, schools and a government facility. In Lutsk, five people were injured in an attack using 15 drones and six missiles, according to mayor Ihor Polishchuk. Meanwhile, the Russian defence ministry said its air defences shot down 174 Ukrainian drones overnight in parts of Russia and occupied Crimea. The ministry said Neptune anti-ship cruise missiles were also intercepted over the Black Sea. Russia's latest attack on Ukraine comes days after Kyiv launched its biggest long-range drone strike on at least 40 Russian warplanes at four military bases. Zelensky said 117 drones were used in the so-called "Spider's Web" operation by the SBU security service, striking "34% of [Russia's] strategic cruise missile carriers". Moscow had previously said that military options were "on the table" for its response to Ukraine's attack. Ukraine drones strike bombers during major attack in Russia Putin will seek revenge for Ukraine drone attack, warns Trump
Wall Street Journal
3 days ago
- Politics
- Wall Street Journal
Russia Launches Massive Aerial Assault on Ukraine
KYIV, Ukraine—Russia launched a huge missile and drone attack on Ukraine overnight, killing at least three people in Kyiv, igniting fires across the capital and partially shutting down its metro system days after Ukraine embarrassed the Kremlin with a surprise strike on its bomber fleet. The overnight assault included 407 strike drones and 44 missiles, according to Ukraine's air force. Sites across the country were hit, including the city of Ternopil in the far west of Ukraine. Kyiv bore the brunt of the attack. Some 200 drones and 30 missiles were shot down, according to Ukrainian officials.
