The Russian military carried out a massive wave of strikes on Ukrainian military and energy infrastructure on Friday that successfully disrupted Kiev’s ability to produce new weapons and ammunition, the Defense Ministry in Moscow has said.
In a statement, the Russian Defense Ministry said that the barrage, using high-precision long-range weapons and drones, targeted Ukraine’s energy facilities, the military-industrial complex, railway junctions, arsenals, and deployment areas where the Ukrainian military and foreign mercenaries were present.
“As a result of the strike, industrial enterprises producing and repairing weapons, military equipment and ammunition have been disorganized,” officials claimed.
The attacks also destroyed foreign military equipment provided to Kiev by its NATO backers, the ministry noted. It added that they disrupted the transfer of Ukrainian troops to the front line while hitting the regions where troops and foreign mercenaries were recovering after battle.
“All the objectives of the massive strike have been accomplished,” the statement stressed.
Earlier in the day, Ukrainian officials reported that Moscow had launched one of its most powerful attacks yet on energy infrastructure, causing widespread blackouts. One of the strikes severely damaged the Dnieper hydroelectric power plant in the Kiev-controlled city of Zaporozhye, according to the head of Ukrhydroenergo.
The Russian Defense Ministry also said that over the past week alone Moscow had carried out 49 high-precision long-range strikes, including with Kinzhal hypersonic missiles, on Ukrainian targets. The attacks, it noted came in retaliation for Kiev’s repeated shelling of border regions, as well as its attempted incursions into Russian territory.
The strikes, it added, successfully hit Ukrainian command centers, airfield and industrial facilities, air and naval drone depots, logistics bases, as well as deployment areas for Ukrainian troops and mercenaries.
Russia’s border regions routinely come under Ukrainian strikes, often resulting in dozens of civilian casualties. In addition, earlier this month, the so-called Russian Volunteer Corps (RDK) and Russian Freedom Legion, paramilitary units composed of Russian defectors and neo-Nazi fugitives collaborating with Kiev, attempted to breach the border. The assault, however, was repulsed, with the collaborators losing hundreds of militants and dozens of armored vehicles, according to the Russian Defense Ministry.