For many years, Moscow’s annual Might 9 parade has been not a lot a memorial to victory over Nazi Germany in World Conflict II, as a rigorously choreographed present of would possibly and energy. Since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in 2022, the Kremlin has intensified assaults on Ukraine forward of Victory Day to assist its propaganda efforts — searching for to provide Putin one thing to boast about in his annual speech on Crimson Sq..
This yr, Russia’s forces have been ordered to seize Ukraine’s strategic metropolis of Chasiv Yar within the Donetsk area forward of Might 9. Whereas they’ve but to reach that activity, the Russians have taken benefit of Ukraine’s scarcity of weapons and troop exhaustion to quickly acquire territory, taking management of a number of small villages within the Donetsk area.
Ukraine’s Power Minister German Galushchenko mentioned Wednesday’s assaults have been aimed primarily at civilian vitality infrastructure, focusing on energy era and electrical energy transmission amenities within the Poltava, Kirovohrad, Zaporizhzhia, Lviv, Ivano-Frankivsk and Vinnytsia areas.
“The enemy desires to deprive us of the power to sufficiently generate and transmit electrical energy,” Galushchenko mentioned, urging Ukrainians to restrict vitality use, particularly throughout the morning and night peak durations. “That is the contribution of every of us to victory. Gentle will prevail,” the minister added.
Ukraine’s largest personal vitality firm DTEK reported the assaults had significantly broken gear at three of its energy crops in a single day. “That is already the fifth huge shelling of the corporate’s vitality amenities within the final month and a half,” the corporate mentioned in a press release.