Ukraine issues nationwide air raid alert as Kyiv attacked – DW – 11/13/2024

Ukraine’s national power grid operator Ukrenergo imposed limits on electricity supply for businesses on Wednesday for the first time since late August.

It said the limits, made necessary by “significantly” lower imports and lower generation, would be temporary.

“The restrictions will be in place during the day. In the evening, after the equipment is fixed, the restrictions will be lifted,” Ukrenergo said on the Telegram messenger app.

Ukraine’s largest private power generator and distributor DTEK said restrictions would apply to Kyiv, the Kyiv region, Odesa, Dnipro and the Donetsk regions.

“The reasons: a shortage (of electricity) in the power grid due to previous shelling by Russia and a drop in temperature,” DTEK said on Telegram.

Russia has deliberately targeted Ukraine’s energy infrastructure during its invasion and has stepped up missile and drone attacks on energy facilities as winter approaches, raising fears that Ukrainians could suffer unbearable cold because of a lack of adequate heating.

According to Ukrainian officials, the country relies mainly on three nuclear power plants for all its energy, with half its previous generating capacity destroyed.

Russia has launched renewed missile attacks on Ukraine , with the president’s chief of staff warning that the capital, Kyiv, was also under attack.

“[Russian President Vladimir] Putin is launching a missile attack on Kyiv right now,” Andriy Yermak said on Telegram.

Ukraine’s air force previously warned that a missile had entered the country’s airspace and was headed for Kyiv. 

Reuters’ witnesses reported hearing blasts in the city.

“Explosions in the city. Air defense forces are working. Stay in shelters!” the Kyiv city administration said on Telegram.

The attacks involved cruise missiles launched from strategic aircraft as well as ballistic missiles, the Ukrainian military said.

The majority of a 10,000-strong contingent of North Korean troops deployed to Russia is already taking part in combat operations in the Kursk region bordering Ukraine, a US State Department spokesman said.

But how effective the North Korean soldiers will be “will in large part be dictated by how well the Russians can integrate them into their military,” according to the department’s deputy spokesman, Vedant Patel.

“Some of the challenges they would need to overcome are interoperability, the language barrier, command and control, and communications,” he added.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy reported a few days ago that some of the North Korean contingent were already taking part in fighting against the Ukrainian army, which has succeeded in capturing some territory in the Russian border region over the past months.

The presence of the North Korean troops in Russia has fueled fears that the conflict in Ukraine will spill over into a wider proxy war.

tj/wmr (AFP, AP, dpa, Reuters)