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Massive attack destroys one of Ukraine's largest power plants

In this photo taken from video released by Russian Defense Ministry Press Service on Saturday, March 30, 2024, a rocket is fired from the Russian army's missile system toward Ukrainian position at an undisclosed location. (Russian Defense Ministry Press Service photo via AP) In this photo taken from video released by Russian Defense Ministry Press Service on Saturday, March 30, 2024, a rocket is fired from the Russian army's missile system toward Ukrainian position at an undisclosed location. (Russian Defense Ministry Press Service photo via AP)
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A massive missile and drone attack destroyed one of Ukraine's largest power plants and damaged others, officials said Thursday, part of a renewed Russian campaign targeting energy infrastructure.

The Trypilska plant, which was the biggest energy supplier for the Kyiv, Cherkasy and Zhytomyr regions, was struck numerous times, destroying the transformer, turbines and generators and leaving the plant ablaze. As the first drone approached, workers hid in a shelter, saving their lives, said Andrii Hota, director of the state company that runs the plant, Centrenergo.

They watched the plant burn, surrounded by dense smoke and engulfed in flames. 鈥淚t鈥檚 terrifying,鈥 said Hota. Hours later, rescuers were still dismantling the rubble.

The plant supplied electricity to 3 million customers 鈥 but none lost power because the grid was able to compensate since demands are low at this time of year. Still, the consequences of the strikes could be felt in the coming months, as air conditioning use ramps up with summer.

At least 10 other strikes overnight damaged energy infrastructure in Kharkiv, Ukraine鈥檚 second-largest city. Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said more than 200,000 people in the region, which has been struck repeatedly, were without power.

Ukraine's largest private energy operator, DTEK, described the slew of strikes as one of the most powerful attacks this year, while Energy Minister Herman Halushchenko told reporters it was a 鈥渓arge scale, enormous, missile attack that affected our energy sector very badly.鈥

Russia has recently renewed strikes on Ukrainian energy facilities, and attacks last month blacked out large parts of the country 鈥 a level of darkness not seen since the first days of the full-scale invasion in 2022.

The volume and accuracy of the attacks have alarmed the country鈥檚 defenders and left officials scrambling for better ways to defend energy assets. The strikes have also tested Ukraine鈥檚 ability to make quick repairs.

Ukraine鈥檚 leaders have pleaded for more air defense systems to ward off such attacks, but those supplies have been slow in coming.

鈥淭oday鈥檚 situation demonstrates that there鈥檚 nothing left to shoot down鈥 the missiles, Hota said.

Associated Press writers Samya Kullab and Illia Novikov contributed to this report from Kyiv, Ukraine. 

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